
Qass PN%4i 
Book W j& 



/ 



/ 






ESSAY 



ON THE 



PRINCIPLES OF TRANSLATION. 



L. 



1 



ESSAY 



ON THE 



PRINCIPLES 



OF 



TRANSLATION 



*^M GU-W^ 5*T O-M- 5 <■■ \1 



THE THIRD EDITION, 

WITH LARGE ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS. 






Wee converti ut Interpret, sed nt Orator, sententiis iisdem et earum formis 
tanquam Jiguris, verbis ad nostram consuctudinem ajrtis. 

Cic. Be Opt. Gen. Orat. 14. 



EDINBURGH : 

Printed by NeiU $ Co. 

FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO. EDINBURGH 

LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME & BROWN, 

AND CADELL AND DAVIES, 

LONDON. 

1813. 






.r. 



TO 



JAMES GREGORY, 



M. D. F. R. S. Edin. 
PRINCIPAL PHYSICIAN TO HIS MAJESTY FOR SCOTLAND j 

WHO, TO GREAT PROFESSIONAL ABILITY 

AND EMINENCE IN GENERAL SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY, 

UNITES THE MOST DISTINGUISHED CLASSICAL KNOWLEDGE 

AND TASTE IN POLITE LITERATURE : 

THIS ESSAY, 

WHICH HAS BEEN HONOURED WITH HIS APPROBATION, 

IS, 

IN TOKEN OF A FRIENDSHIP 

WHICH HAS STOOD THE TEST OF ALMOST HALF A CENTURY, 
DEDICATED BY 

ALEX. FRASER TYTLER. 

VOODHOUSELEE, ) 
August 1812. / 



PREFACE 



TO THE 



PRESENT EDITION. 



J n preparing for the Press a Third Edition 
of this Essay, the Author has endeavoured, 
by making ample additions to the matter of 
the Work, as well as by a careful revisal of 
the style) to render it less unworthy of that 
very flattering measure of approbation it has 
received from the literary world. Sensible 
that the didactic precepts which form the 
Laws of Translation, are best verified by 
the variety and aptness of the examples 
brought to illustrate them, he has in this 
edition very considerably enlarged the num- 
ber of illustrations brought as examples 
both of excellencies and defects. Of these, 
in so far as reason and good sense afford a 
criterion, the opinion of all intelligent rea- 



Vlll PREFACE, 

ders will probably be uniform. But, as it is 
not to be denied, that in many of the ex- 
amples adduced in this Essay* the appeal 
lies not so much to any settled canons of 
criticism, as to individual taste ; it will not 
be surprising, if in such instances, a diversi- 
ty of opinion should take place : and the 
Author having exercised with great freedom 
his own judgment in such points, it would 
ill become him to blame others for using the 
same freedom in dissenting from his opi- 
nions. The chief benefit to be derived from 
all such discussions in matters of taste, does 
not so much arise from any certainty we can 
obtain of the rectitude of our critical deci- 
sions, as from the pleasing and useful exer- 
cise which they give to the finest powers of 
the mind, and those which most distinguish 
us from the inferior animals. 

In one material point at least, the Author 
may be allowed to flatter himself, that some 
advantage may accrue from his undertaking. 



PREFACE. IX 

It will serve to demonstrate, that the Art of 
Translation is of more dignity and import- 
ance than has generally been imagined. It 
will afford sufficient conviction, that excel- 
lence in this art is neither a matter of easy 
attainment, nor what lies at all within the 
reach of ordinary abilities ; since it not only 
demands those acquired endowments which 
are the fruit of much labour and study, but 
requires a larger portion of native talents 
and of genuine taste, than are necessary for 
excelling in many departments of original 
composition. 



CONTENTS, 



Page 
Introduction, 1 

CHAPTER I. 

Description of a good Translation. — General Rules flow- 
ing from that description, - * 13 

CHAPTER II. 

First general Rule : A Translation should give a com" 
plete transcript of the ideas of the original work. — 
Knowledge of the language of the original, and ac- 
quaintance with the subject. — Examples of imperfect 
transfusion of the sense of the original. — What ought 
to be the conduct of a Translator where the sense is am* 
biguous, n m 1/ 



XH CONTENTS. 



Page 
CHAPTER III. 

Whether it is allowable for a Translator to add to or re- 
trench the ideas of the original. — Examples of the use 
and abuse of this liberty. — The liberty allowed to the 
Translator depends on the nature of the work, 35 

CHAPTER IV. 

Of the freedom allowed in poetical Translation. — Pro-* 
gress of poetical Translation in England. — B. Johnson, 
Holiday, May, Sandys, Fanshaw, Dryden. — Roscom- 
mon's Essay on Translated Verse* — Pope's Homer, 63 

CHAPTER V. 

Second general Ride : The style ana) manner of wri- 
ting in a Translation should be of the same character 
with that of the original. — Tanslations of the Scrip- 
tures — Of Homer, Qc A just taste requisite for the 

discernment of the characters of style and manner. — 
Examples of failure in this particular ; — The grave ex- 
changed for the formal ; — the elevated for the bom- 
bast; — the lively for the petulant ; — the simple for the 
childish — Hobbes, Lf Estrange, Echard, $c. 109 



CONTENTS. Xlll 



CHAPTER VI. 



Page 



Examples of a good Taste in poetical Translation* 
V. Bournes Translations from Mallet and from 
Prior. — Dr Atterbury , from Horace — The Dukede 
Nivernois, from Horace. — Dr Jortin, from Simo- 
nides. — Imitation of the same by the Archbishop 
of York. — Mr Glasse,from Masons Caractacus — 
Mr Webb, from the Anthologia — Grotius from the 
same. — Hughes, from Claudian — .fieattie, from 
Pope* — Pope, from Boilcau. — Fragments of the 
Greek Dramatists, by Mr Cumberland, - 141 

CHAPTER VII. 

Limitation of the Pule regarding the Imitation of 
Style. — This Imitation must be regulated by the Ge* 
nius of Languages. — The Latin admits of a great- 
er brevity of Expression than the English ; as does 
the French. — The Latin and Greek allow of greater 
Inversions than the English, — and admit more freely 
of Ellipsis, - - 177 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Whether a Poem can be well translated into Prose, 201 



XIV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Page 



Third General Rule : A Translation should have all 
the ease of original composition — Extreme difficulty 
in the observance of this rule — Contrasted instances 
of success and failure.— Of the necessity of sacrifi- 
cing one rule to another, - - 209 

CHAPTER X. 

It is less difficult to attain the ease of original compo- 
sition in Poetical, than in Prose Translation, — Ly- 
ric Poetry admits of the greatest liberty of Trans- 
lation, — Examples distinguishing Paraphrase from 
Translation, — from Dry den, Lowth, Fontenelle, 
Prior, Anguillara, Hughes, - - 229 

CHAPTER XL 

Of the Translation of Idioms — -General Idioms 

Idiomatic Phrases. — Examples from Spelman, SmoU 
let's Gil Bias, Cotton, Echard, Sterne. — Injudicious 
use of Idioms in the Translation, which do not cor- 
respond with the age or country of the original. — 
Idiomatic Phrases sometimes incapable of Transla<* 
Hon, - - 251 



CONTENTS. XV 



Pag* 
CHAPTER XII. 



Difficulty of Translating Don Quixote, from its Idio- 
matic Phraseology Of the best Translations of 

that Romance — Comparison of the Translation by 
Motteux with that by Smollet, - - 281 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Other characteristics of Composition which render 

Translation difficult Antiquated Terms. — New 

Terms — Verba Ardentia — Simplicity of Thought 
and Expression — In Prose — In Poetry — Naivete 
in the latter — Chaulieu, — Parnelle, — Theocritus, — 
La Fontaine. — Series of Minute Distinctions mark- 
ed by characteristic Terms — Strada — Florid Style, 
and vague expression — Pliny's Natural History, 321 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Of Burlesque Translation Travesty and Parody — - 

Scarrons Virgile Travesti, — Another species of 
Ludicrous Translation, - * 361 



XVI CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER XV. 



Page 



The genius of the Translator should be akin to that of 
the original author.-— The best Translators have 
shone in original composition of the same species 
with that which they have translated* — Of VoU 
taires Translations from Shakespeare* -Of the pe* 
culiar character of the wit of Voltaire, — His Trans- 
lation fro?n Hudibras. — Excellent anonymous French 
Translation of Hudibras. — Translation of Rabelais 
by Urquhart and Motteux, - - 371 

Appendix, - - 405 



ERRATA. 

Pag. 46. line 6. from the bottom, xeuiv r. xxivov 

- 146. The Note is misplaced : It belongs to P. 149- as it 

•refers to Horace's dialogue with Lydia. 
• 160. 1. 6. %^<ry^, r. x wvxfist 

— ■■ 162. 1. 6. (pifl^xxxi, r. (pt?0^et xou, 

165. 1. 8. Aeria r. Aera P. 166. line last pass , r, passe, 

■■' I69. 1. 5. from the bottom, revtecv r, nivUv 

■ 170. 1. 8. from the bottom, Trajicos r. Tragicos 

— 26l. 1. 7 -from the bottom, sr 'xXQiroc ; r. TtcXQw, 

271. 1. 11: from the bottom, meaning r, mean 



ESSAY 



ON THE 



£UINCIFLES OF TRANSLATION. 



INTRODUCTION. 



1 here is perhaps no department of lite- 
rature which has been less the object of cul- 
tivation, than the Art of Translating. Even 
among the ancients, who seem to have had 
a very just idea of its importance, and who 
have accordingly ranked it among the most 
useful branches of literary education, we 
meet with no attempt to unfold the prin- 
ciples of this art, or to reduce it to rules. 
In the works of Quinctilian, of Cicero, and 



2 PRINCIPLES OF INTR. 

of the Younger Pliny, we find many passa- 
ges which prove that these authors had 
made translation their peculiar study ; and, 
conscious themselves of its utility, they 
have strongly recommended the practice of 
it, as essential towards the formation both 
of a good writer and an accomplished ora- 
tor *. But it is much to be regretted, that 
they who were so eminently well qualified 
to furnish instruction in the art itself, 
have contributed little more to its advance- 
ment than by some general recommenda- 
tions of its importance. If indeed time had 



* Vertere Graeca in Latinum, veteres nostri oratores op- 
timum judicabant. Id se Lucius Crassus, in illis Cicero- 
nis de oratore libris, dicit factitasse. Id Cicero sua ipse per- 
sona frequentissime praecipit. Quin etiam libros Platonis 
atque Xenophontis edidit, hoc genere translates. Id Messalas 
placuit, raultaeque sunt ab eo scriptae ad hunc modum ora- 
tiones. Quinclil. Inst. Orat. I. 10. c. 5. 

Utile imprimis, ut multi praecipiunt, vel ex Graeco in La- 
tinum, vel ex Latino vertere in Graecum : quo genere exer- 
citationis, proprietas splendorque verborum, copia figurarum, 
vis explicandi, prasterea, imitatione optimorum, similia inve- 
niendi facultas paratur: simul quae legentem fefeliissent 9 
transferentem fugere non possunt. Flin. Epist. I. 7. Ep. 7. 



INTR. TRANSLATION. 3 

spared to us any complete or finished spe- 
cimens of translation from the hand of those 
great masters, it had been some compensa- 
tion for the want of actual precepts, to have 
been able to deduce them ourselves from 
those exquisite models. But of ancient 
translations the fragments that remain are 
so inconsiderable, and so much mutilated, 
that we can scarcely derive from them any 
advantage *. 

To the moderns the art of translation is 
of greater importance than it was to the 
ancients, in the same proportion that the 
great mass of ancient and of modern lite- 
rature, accumulated up to the present times, 
bears to the general stock of learning in the 
most enlightened periods of antiquity. But 
it is a singular consideration, that under 
the daily experience of the advantages of 
good translations, in opening to us all the 
stores of ancient knowledge, and creating a 
free intercourse of science and of literature 

a2 

* There remain of Cicero's translations some fragments 
of the (Economics of Xenophon, the Timaeus of Plato, and 
part of a poetical version of the Phenomena of Aratus. 



2 PRINCIPLES OP INTK. 

between all modern nations, there should 
have been so little done towards the im- 
provement of the art itself, by investiga- 
ting its laws, or unfolding its principles. 
Unless a very short essay, published by 
M. D'Alembert, in his Melanges cle Lit- 
terature, d'Histoire, #c. as introductory to 
his versions of some pieces of Tacitus, 
and some remarks on translation by the 
Abbe Batteux, in his Principes cle la i li- 
terature, I have met with nothing that 
has been written professedly upon the sub- 
ject of translation considered as an art, de- 
pending on fixed principles *• The ob- 

* When the first edition of this Essay was printed, the 
Author had not seen Dr Campbell's New Translation of the 
Gospels, then recently published, in one of the preliminary 
dissertations to which, that ingenious writer has treated pro- 
fessedly, though very briefly, " Of the chief things to be 
" attended to in translating " The general laws of the art 
as briefly laid down in the first part of that dissertation are 
the same w th those containe ; in this Essay; a circumstance 
which, independently of that satisfaction which always arises 
from nding our opinions warranted by the concurring judg- 
ment of persons of distinguished ingenuity and taste, affords 
a strong presumption that those opinions are founded in na- 
ture and in common sense. Another work on the same sub- 
ject had likewise escaped the Author's observation when he 
first published this Essay ; a poetical Essay on translation, 



INTR. TRANSLATION. 5 

servations of M. D'Alembert, though ex- 
tremely judicious, are too general to be 
considered as rules, or even elements of the 

a3 



by Mr Francklin, the ingenious translator of Sophocles and 
Lucian. It is, however, rather an apology of the art, and 
a vindication of its just rank in the scale of literature, than 
a didactic work explanatory of its principles. But above 
all, the Author had to regret, that when the former editions 
of this work were published, he had not been fortunate 
enough to meet with the work of a celebrated writer, profes- 
sedly on the subject of translation, the treatise of M. Huet, 
Bishop of Avranches, De optima genere interjjretandi ; of 
whose doctrines, however, he had some knowledge, from a 
pretty full extract of his work in the Dictionnaire Encyclo- 
pedique de Grammaire et Litterature, article Traduction. 
He has since seen and perused that small treatise, which, 
though accurately and methodically written, and containing 
many excellent observations, and much sound and judicious 
criticism, proposes a system of rules adapted only to that 
species of translation which professes to give a faithful inter- 
pretation of the text of an ancient classic ; and is chiefly in- 
tended for the instruction of a tiro in the language of the 
original. It is of such versions that the learned Dr Pearce 
is treating, in distinction from that more free species of com- 
position which is properly termed Translation, when he says : 
<e Velim interpretem fidum esse, £ed non sui ostentatorem : 
tC sed modo dictio ejus Latina, sint verba sensum Graeci 
i( auctoris clare breviterque exponentia, non quaero an versio 
" ornatum prae se ferat ; neque enim legenda, sed consulenda 
<( est ilia ; ut de v j Giaecorum verborum ignaris, prassunti 



♦ 



6 PRINCIPLES OF INTR. 

art j and the remarks of the Abbe Batteux 
are employed chiefly on what may be term- 
ed the Philosophy of Grammar, and seem 
to liave for their principal object the ascer- 
tainment of the analogy that one language 
bears to another, or the pointing out of 
those circumstances of construction and ar- 



a sit autfilio : De iis hie versionibus intelligi velim quae una 
te cum Graeco auctoris textu imprimuntur : de caeteris enim 
** seorsim editis, qualis est Gallica ilia celeberrimi Boilavii 
" versio, longe aliter res se habet : in his enim et ornatum 
61 et elegantiam quaerimus : in his sensum magis quam 
e< verba paria paribus respondentia spectamus: nee possit 
tc ille interpres omnind placere, qui non, (prout ejus linguae 
<£ qua utitur postulat ratio), aliqua immutat, corripit, dilatat, 
" ut ipsam vim spiritumque auctoris ob oculos legentium 
" ponat/' Prcefatio Zack Pearce in D. Longini versio- 
nem. It is evident, that the rules which are proper to the 
former kind of interpretation, are much too rigorous to be 
applied to the latter, or to that more ample and liberal spe- 
cies of translation, which professes to supply the place of the 
original author, and is adapted rather to convey to the reader 
the sense, the spirit and manner of his composition, than the 
strict meaning of all his words. The present work, therefore, 
which is relative to the more enlarged idea of Translation, 
and attempts to lay down the rules only of that species of 
composition, can have little interference with the Treatise 
of the learned Huet, which every scholar will find pleasure 
and profit in perusing. It may be incidentally remarked, 



INTR. TRANSLATION. t 

rangement in which languages either agree 
with, or differ from each other % 

While such has been our ignorance of 
the principles of this art, it is not at all 
wonderful, that amidst the numberless trans- 
lations which every day appear, both of the 
works of the ancients and moderns, there 
should be so few that are possessed of real 
merit. The utility of translations is univer- 
sally felt, and therefore there is a continual 

a4 



that the judgments of Huet on the merits of the older inter- 
preters of the Greek writers, are extremely valuable ; and 
though rather of the nature of opinions than of criticisms, 
evince a good taste, and great liberality of sentiment. 

* The Abbe Batteux, founding upon this principle, which 
he has by no means proved, That the arrangement of the 
Greek and Latin languages is the order of nature, and that 
the modern tongues ought never to deviate from that order, 
but for the sake of sense, perspicuity, or harmony ; proceeds 
to lay down such rules as the following : That the periods of 
the translation should accord in all their parts with those of 
the original — that their order, and even their length, should 
be the same — that all conjunctions should be scrupulously 
preserved, as being the joints or articulations of the members 
— that all adverbs should be ranged next to the verb, &c. 
It may be confidently asserted, that the Translator who shall 
endeavour to conform himself to these rules, even with the 



& PRINCIPLES OF 1NTR» 

demand for them. But this very eircum^ 
stance has thrown the practice of translation 
into mean and mercenary hands. It is a 
profession which, it is generally believed, 
may be exercised with a very small por- 
tion of genius or abilities *. u It seems to 



licence allowed of sacrificing a little of their rigour to sense, 
perspicuity, and harmony, will produce, on the whole, a very 
poor composition, which will be far from reflecting a just 
picture of his original. 

* Such is our pride, our folly, or our fate, 
That few, but such as cannot write, translate. 

Denham to Sir jR. Fansharv. 



hands impure dispense 



The sacred streams of ancient eloquence ; 
Pedants assume the task for scholars fit^ 
And blockheads rise interpreters of wit. 

Translation by Francklin. 

In a review of the Works of Frederick II. King of Prussia, 
translated by Mr Holcroft, we find the following remarks : 
" Perhaps at first sight we are apt to congratulate ourselves 
(< upon finding a man of acknowledged ability employed in 
" communicating to our unlearned countrymen the contents 
** of this memorable collection. $ut this, with us at least, 
iC is only a first thought ; and the translator must forgive us, 
" if we express our regret at seeing him employed in so 
" laborious and unanimating a drudgery. In the existence 
" of an incident of this sort, there must be a fault some- 



INTR. TRANSLATION. 9 

" me," says Dry den, " that the true rea^ 

" son why we have so few versions that 

" are tolerable, is, because there are so 

" few have all the talents requisite for trans^ 

" lation, and that there is so little praise and 

" small encouragement for so considerable a 

^ partof learning." Pref: to Ovid's Epistles*. 



<c where ; and if not in himself, we must impute it to the 
" defectiveness of our country and age, in social improve- 
-" ment, government and laws. The world, it may be, that 
iC is, a very small portion of the world, sains something, 
" in having a foreign publication translated by a man who 
" is capable of entering into the soul of his original; but, at 
' ' any rate, it loses, out of all comparison, more than it gains." 

Here we have the solemn judgment of a grave and learn- 
ed critic, that Translation is an employment fit only for 
Dunces ! and that there is a radical defect in the govern- 
ment, laws and social improvements of a country, where any 
man of real talents is suffered thus to degrade himself, and 
mispend his valuable time. 

* The justness of the following observations, which fprm 
a striking contrast with those in the preceding note, will be 
felt, as soon as announced. " A faithful and elegant trans- 
" lator is a character of the highest virtue in the literary 
*i republic. It implies public spirit, the most void of osten- 
" tation; a kind regard for the illiterate; a love of our na- 
** tive country, shewn by enriching its language with va- 



10 tmiNGIl'LES 0? INTIU 

It* is, however, to the real honour of the 
literary character, and taste of the times, 
that there have been, and that there are men 
of genius among the moderns who have 
vindicated the dignity of this art so ill appre- 
tiated, and have furnished us with excel- 
lent translations, both of the ancient clas- 
sics, and of the productions of foreign wri- 
ters of our own and of former ages. These 
works lay open a great field of useful criti- 
cism ; and from them it is certainly pos- 
sible to draw the principles of that art 
which has never yet been methodised, and 
to establish its rules and precepts* Towards 
this purpose, even the worst translations 
would have their utility, as in such a critical 
exercise, it would be equally necessary to il- 
lustrate defects as to exemplify perfections. 



w luable books ; a just regard for merit, of whatever country* 
m by placing the merit of some valuable foreigners in the 
ie truest and fairest light ; a care, a judgment and exactness 
u that original writings do not require, and some degree 
" of humility, in scarce aspiring to the name of an author. 
" But how few of those heroes and heroines are there ! 
" The common herd of translators are mere murderers." 
Letter from Miss Talbot to Mrs Carter. Carter's Letters, 
vol. i. p. 126. 



INTR. 



TRANSLATION. 11 



An attempt of this kind forms the sub- 
ject of the following Essay, in which the 
Author solicits indulgence, both for the im- 
perfections of his treatise, and perhaps for 
some errors of opinion. His apology for the 
first, is, that he does not pretend to ex- 
haust the subject, or to treat it in all its 
amplitude, but only to point out the general 
principles of the art ; and for the last, that 
in matters where the ultimate appeal is to 
Taste, it is almost impossible to be secure of 
the solidity of our opinions, when the crite- 
rion of their truth is so very uncertain. 



CHAP. U TRANSLATION, 13 



m 



CHAPTER I. 

Description of a good Translation,*— 'Gene 
ral Rules flowing from that Description, 



J f it were possible accurately to define, or, 
perhaps more properly, to describe what u 
meant by a good Translation, it is evident 
that a considerable progress would be made, 
towards establishing the rules of the Art ; 
for these Rules would flow naturally from 
that definition or description. But there 
is no subject of criticism on which there has 
been so much difference of opinion. If the 
genius and character of all languages were 
the same, it would be an easy task to trans* 
late from one into another ; nor would my 



14 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. I. 

thing more be requisite on the part of the 
translator, than fidelity and attention. But as 
the genius and character of languages are 
confessedly very different, two opinions have 
thence arisen, regarding the proper task of 
a translator. On the one hand, it has been 
affirmed, that it is the duty of a translator to 
attend only to the sense and spirit of his 
original, to make himself perfectly master 
of his author's ideas, and to communicate 
them in those expressions which he judges 
to be best suited to convey them. It has, 
on the other hand, been maintained, that, 
in order to constitute a perfect translation, 
it is not only requisite that the ideas and 
sentiments of the original author should be 
conveyed, but likewise his style and man- 
ner of writing, which, it is supposed, can- 
not be done without a strict attention to the 
arrangement of his sentences, and even to 
their order and construction *. According 



* Batteux de la Construction Oratoire, Par. 2. ch. 4>. Such 
likewise appears to be the opinion of M. Huet : " Optimum 
" ergo ilium esse dico interpretandi modum, quum auctoris sen- 
" tcntias primum, deinde ipsis etiam, si ita fert utriusque 



CHAP. U TRANSLATION. 15 

to the Former idea of translation, it is al- 
lowable to improve and to embellish ; ac- 
cording to the latter, it is necessary to pre- 
serve even blemishes and defects ; and to 
these must likewise be superadded the harsh- 
ness that must attend every copy in which 
the artist scrupulously studies to imitate the 
minutest lines or traces of his original. 

As these two opinions form opposite ex- 
tremes, it is not improbable that the point 
of perfection should be found between the 
two, I would therefore describe a good 
translation to be, That, in which the merit 
of the original work is so completely trans~ 
fused into another language, as to be as 
distinctly apprehended, and as strongly felt , 
by a native of the country to which that 



* Ungues facultas, verbis arctissime adhoeret interpres, et na<* 
(( tivum postremo auctoris character em, quoad ejusjieri potest t 
(C adumbrat ; idque unum studet, id mdla cum detractions im* 
v minutum, nullo additarnento auctum, sed integrum, suique 

R omni ex parte, simillimum, perquam fideliter exhibeat. 

<{ Universe ergo verbum de verbo exprimendum, et vocum 
<c etiam collocationem retinendum esse pronuncio, id mod-Q 
" per lingua qua utitur interpres famltatem liceat" Wwt 
« de Ijiterpretatione ; lib, i, 



16 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. I. 

language belongs, as it is by those who speak 
the language of the original work. 

Now, supposing this description to be 
a just one, which I think it is, let us exa- 
mine what are the laws of translation which 
may be deduced from it. 

It will follow, 

I. That the Translation should give a 
complete transcript of the ideas of the ori- 
ginal work, 

II. That the style and manner of writing 
should be of the same character with that of 
the original* 

III. That the Translation should have 
all the ease of original composition. 

Under each of these general laws of trans- 
lation, are comprehended a variety of sub- 
ordinate precepts, which I shall notice in 
their order, and which, as well as the ge- 
neral laws, I shall endeavour to prove, and 
to illustrate by examples. 



CIJAP. II. TRANSLATION. 17 



CHAR II. 



First general rule — A Translation should 
give a complete transcript of the ideas of 
the original work. — Knowledge of the 
language of the original, and acquaint- 
ance with the subject* — Examples of im- 
perfect transfusion of the sense of the 
original, — What ought to be the conduct 
of a Translator where the sense is ambi- 
guous. 



In order that a translator may be ena- 
bled to give a complete transcript of the 
ideas of the original work, it is indispen- 
sably necessary, that he should have a per- 
fect knowledge of the language of the ori- 
ginal, and a competent acquaintance with 
thq subject of which it treats. If he is de« 



18 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. II. 

ficient in either of these requisites, he can 
never be certain of thoroughly comprehend- 
ing the sense of his author. M. Folard is 
allowed to have been a great master of the 
art of war. He undertook to translate Po- 
lybius, and to give a commentary illustra- 
ting the ancient Tactic, and the practice of 
the Greeks and Romans in the attack and 
defence of fortified places. In this com- 
mentary, he endeavours to shew, from the 
words of his author, and of other ancient 
writers, that the Greek and Roman engi- 
neers knew and practised almost every ope- 
ration known to the moderns ; and that, in 
particular, the mode of approach by paral- 
lels and trenches, was perfectly familiar to 
them, and in continual use. Unfortunately 
M. Folard had but a very slender knowledge 
, of the Greek language, and was obliged to 
study his author through the medium of a 
translation, executed by a Benedictine monk*, 
who was entirely ignorant of the art of war. 
M. Guischardt, a great military genius, and 



* Dom. Vincent Thuillier, 



CHAP. II. 



TRANSLATION. 19 



a thorough master of the Greek language, 
has shewn, that the work of Folard contains 
many capital misrepresentations of the sense 
of his author, in his account of the most 
important battles and sieges, and has de- 
monstrated, that the complicated system form- 
ed by this writer of the ancient art of war, 
has no support from any of the ancient au- 
thors fairly interpreted *. 

The extreme difficulty of translating from 
the works of the ancients, is most discern- 
ible to those who are best acquainted with 
the ancient languages. It is but a small 
part of the genius and powers of a lan- 
guage which is to be learnt from dictionaries 
and grammars. There are innumerable nice- 
ties, not only of construction and of idiom, 
but even in the signification of words, which 
are discovered only by much reading, and 
critical attention. 



b2 



* Memoires militaires de M. Guischardt, 



20 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. II. 

A very learned author, and acute critic *, 
has, in treating " of the causes of the diffe- 
" rences in languages," remarked, that a 
principal difficulty in the art of translating 
arises from this circumstance, " that there 
" are certain words in every language which 
" but imperfectly correspond to any of the 
" words of other languages." Of this kind, 
he observes, are most of the terms relating 
to morals, to the passions, to matters of 
sentiment, or to the objects of the reflex 
and internal senses. Thus the Greek words 
tt£g7?j, <r&><pgo(rvv7>}, Ixeog, have not their sense 
precisely and perfectly conveyed by the La- 
tin words virtus, temper antia, misericordia, 
and still less by the English words, virtue, 
temperance, mercy. The Latin word virtus 
is frequently synonymous to valour, a sense 
which is never conveyed by the English 
word virtue. Temper ant ia, Latin, implies 
moderation in every desire, and is defined 
by Cicero, Moderatio cupiditatum rationi obe- 



* Dr George Campbell, Preliminary Dissertations to a new 
Translation of the Gospels. 



CHAP. II. TRANSLATION. 21 

diens *. The English word temperance, in 
its ordinary use, is limited to moderation in 
eating and drinking : 



-Observe 



The rule of not too much,, by temperance taught, 
In what thou eat'st and drink'st. 

Par, Lost, b. ii. 

It is true, that Spenser has used the term 
in its more extensive signification : 

He calm'd his wrath with goodly temperance. 

But no modern prose-writer has authorised 
such extension of its meaning. 

The following passage is quoted by the 
ingenious writer above mentioned, to shew, 
in the strongest manner, the extreme diffi- 
culty of apprehending the precise import of 
words of this order in dead languages : 
" JEgritudo est opinio recens mali prasentis, 
" in quo demitti contrahiqne animo rectum 
" esse videatur. JEgritudini subjiciuntur 

b3 



* Cic. de Fin. 1. 2. 



22 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. II. 

" angor, mmror, dolor, Indus, cerumna, afflic- 
" tatio : angor est cegritudo premens, mceror 
" cegritudo jlebilis, cerumnm cegritudo labor i- 
" osa, dolor cegritudo crucians, affiictalio 
" cegritudo cum vexatione corporis, luctus 
" cegritudo ex ejus qui earns fuer at, interitu 
" acerbo *." — " Let any one," says D' Alem- 
bert, " examine this passage with attention, 
" and say honestly, whether, if he had not 
" known of it, he would have had any idea 
" of those nice shades of signification here 
" marked, and whether he would not have 
" been much embarrassed, had he been wri- 
" ting a dictionary, to distinguish, with ac- 
" curacy, the words cegritudo, mceror dolor, 
" angor, luctus, cerumna, afflictatio" 

The fragments of Varro, de Lingua La- 
tina, the treatises of Festus and of No- 
nius, the Origin es of Isiodorus Hispalensis, 
the work of Ausonius Popma, de Differen- 
tiis Verborum, the Synonymes of the Abbe 
Girard, the Synonymes Latins of Dumesnil, 



* Cic. Tusc. Quaest. L 4. 



CHAP. II. TRANSLATION. 23 

and the elaborate work of Professor Hill on 
the same subject, will furnish numberless 
instances of those very delicate shades of 
distinction in the signification of words, 
which nothing but the most intimate ac- 
quaintance with a language can teach ; but 
without the knowledge of which distinc- 
tions in the original, and an equal power of 
discrimination of the corresponding terms 
of his own language, no translator can be 
said to possess the primary requisites for the 
task he undertakes. 

But a translator, thoroughly master of 
the language, and competently acquainted 
with the subject, may yet fail to give a com- 
plete transcript of the ideas of his original 
author. 

M. D'Alembert has favoured the public 
with some admirable translations from Ta- 
citus ; and it must be acknowledged, that 
he possessed every qualification requisite for 
the task he undertook. If, in the course of 
the following observations, I may have oc- 
casion to criticise any part of his writings, 

b4 



24 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. It. 

or those of other authors of equal celebrity, 
I avail myself of the just sentiment of 
M. Duclos, " On peut toujours relever les 
" defauts des grands hommes, et peut-£tre 
" sont ils les seuls qui en soient dignes, et 
" dont la critique soit utile." Duclos, Pref. 
de V Hist, de Louis XI. 

Tacitus, in describing the conduct of Pisa 
upon the death of Germanicus, says : Piso- 
nem interim ap-ud Coum insulam nuncius ad- 
sequitur, excessisse Germanicum ; Tacit. An. 
lib. 2. c. 75. This passage is thus translated 
by M. D'Alembert, " Pison apprend, dans 
u l'isle de Cos, la mort de Germanicus." 
In translating this passage, it is evident that 
M. D'Alembert has not given the complete 
sense of the original. The sense of Tacitus 
is, that Piso was overtaken on his voyage 
homeward, at the Isle of Cos, by a messen- 
ger, who informed him that Germanicus 
was dead. According to the French trans- 
lator, we understand simply, that when Piso 
arrived at the Isle of Cos, he was informed 
that Germanicus was dead. We do not learn 
from this, that a messenger had followed 



CHAP. II. TRANSLATION. 25 

him on his voyage to bring him this intel- 
ligence. The fact was, that Piso purposely 
lingered on his voyage homeward, expecting 
this very messenger who here overtook him. 
But, by M. D'Alembert's version it might 
be understood, that Germanicus had died in 
the island of Cos, and that Piso was informed 
of his death by the islanders immediately 
on his arrival. The passage is thus trans- 
lated, with perfect precision, by D'Ablan- 
court : " Cependant Pison apprend la nou- 
" velle de cette mort par un courier exprfes, 
" qui l'atteignit en Fisle de Cos." 

After Piso had received intelligence of 
the death of Germanicus, he delibera- 
ted whether to proceed on his voyage to 
Rome, or to return immediately to Syria, 
and there put himself at the head of the 
legions. His son advised the former mea- 
sure ; but his friend Domitius Celer argued 
warmly for his return to the province, and 
urged, that all difficulties would give way 
to him, if he had once the command of the 
army, and had increased his force by new 
levies. " At si teneat exercitum, augeat 



26 PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. II. 



" vires, multa quae provideri non possunt 
" in melius casura," An. L 2. c. 77. This 
M. D'Alembert has translated, " Mais que 
" s'il savoit se rendre redoutable a la tete 
" des troupes, le hazard ameneroit des cir- 
" Constances heureuses et imprevues." In 
the original passage, Domitius advises Piso 
to adopt two distinct measures ; the first, to 
obtain the command of the army, and the 
second, to increase his force by new levies. 
These two distinct measures are confound- 
ed together by the translator, nor is the 
sense of either of them accurately given ; 
for from the expression, " se rendre redout- 
" able a la tete des troupes," we may under- 
stand, that Piso already had the command 
of the troops, and that all that was requi- 
site, was to render himself formidable in 
that station, which he might do in various 
other ways than by increasing the levies. 

Tacitus, speaking of the means by which 
Augustus obtained an absolute ascendency 
over all ranks in the state, says, Cum ccete- 
ri nobiliurri) qttanto qnis servitio promptior, 
opibus et honoribus extollerentur ; An. 1. 1. 



CHAP. II. TRANSLATION. 2? 

c. 1. This D' Alembert has translated, " Le 
" reste des nobles trouvoit dans les richesses 
" et dans les honneurs la recompense de 1'- 
" esclavage." Here the translator has but 
half expressed the meaning of his author, 
which is, that " the rest of the nobility 
" were exalted to riches and honours, in 
" proportion as Augustus found in them an 
" aptitude and disposition to servile obe- 
" dience :" or, as it is well translated by Mr 
Murphy, " the leading men were raised to 
" wealth and honours, in proportion to the 
" alacrity with which they courted theyoke*. 5 * 

Cicero, in a letter to the Proconsul Phi* 
lippus, says, Quod si Romce te vidissem, co~ 
ramque gratias egissem, quod tibi L. Egna- 
t ins familiar issimus mens absens, L. Op puis 
prcesens cur& fuisset. This passage is thus 
translated by Mr Melmoth : " If I were in 
" Rome, I should have waited upon you 
" for this purpose in person, and in order 



* The excellent translation of Tacitus by Mr Murphy had 
not appeared when the first edition of this Essay was publish- 
ed. 



28 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. II. 

" likewise to make my acknowledgments to 
" you for your favours to my friends Egna- 
" tius and Oppius." Here the sense is not 
completely rendered, as there is an omis- 
sion of the meaning of the words absens and 
prcEsens* 

Wheue the sense of an author is doubt- 
ful, and where more than one meaning can 
be given to the same passage or expression, 
(which, by the bye, is always a defect in 
composition), the translator is called upon 
to exercise his judgment, and to select that 
meaning which is most consonant to 
the train of thought in the whole pas- 
sage, or to the author's usual mode of think- 
ing, and of expressing himself To imi- 
tate the obscurity or ambiguity of the ori- 
ginal, is a fault * ; and it is still a greater, 



* M. Huet, however, thinks otherwise, and his opinion is 
a necessary consequence from the strict method of interpre- 
tation for which he contends : Verbum ambigue dictum est, 

et duplicem admittit explicationem. Cerie res in medio po- 

sita ut erat, ita debuit consistere, et verbum anceps ancipiti 
verbo reddi, ipsaque sentential ambiguitas reprazsentari. De 
Opt. Gen. Interpret, p. 27. Edit. Lond. 1684. 



CHAP. IL 



TRANSLATION. 29 



to give more than one meaning, as D' Alem- 
bert has done in the beginning of the Pre- 
face of Tacitus. The original runs thus: 
Urban Romam a principio Reges habuere. 
Libert a te?n et consulatum i. Brutus instituit. 
Dictaturce ad tempus sumebantur ; neque 
Decemvir alis potestas ultra biennium, neque 
Tribunorum militum consular ejus diu valuit. 
The ambiguous sentence is, Dictaturce ad 
tempus sumebantur ; which may signify ei- 
ther, " Dictators were chosen for a limited 
" time," or, " Dictators were chosen on 
" particular occasions or emergencies.'' 
D' Alembert saw this ambiguity ; but how 
did he remove the difficulty ? Not by exer- 
cising his judgment in determining between 
the two different meanings, but by giving 
them both in his translation. " On creoit 
" au besoin des dictateurs passagers." 
Now, this double sense it was impossible 
that Tacitus should ever have intended to 
convey by the words ad tempus : and be- 
tween the two meanings of which the 
words are susceptible, a very little critical 
judgment was requisite to decide. I know 
not that ad tempus is ever used in the sense 



SO PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. II, 

4 

of " for the occasion or emergency." If 
this had been the author's meaning, he 
would probably have used either the words 
ad occasionern, or pro re nata. But even al- 
lowing the phrase to be susceptible of this 
meaning *, it is not the meaning which Ta- 
citus chose to give it in this passage. That 
the author meant that the Dictator was 
created for a limited time, is, I think, evi- 
dent from the sentence immediately follow- 
ing, which is connected by the copulative 
neque with the preceding : Diet at ur a ad 
tempus sumebantur : neque Decemviralis po- 
testas ultra biennium valuit : " The office of 
" Dictator was instituted for a limited time : 
" Nor did the power of the Decemvirs sub- 
" sist beyond two years." 

M. D'Alembert's translation of the 
concluding sentence of this chapter is cen- 



* Mr Gordon has translated the words ad tempus, ec in pres- 
" sing emergencies ;" and Mr Murphy, " in sudden emergen- 
" cies only." This sense is, therefore, probably warranted 
by good authorities. But it is evidently not the sense of the 
author in this passage, as the context sufficiently indicates- 



CHAP, II. TRANSLATION, 31 

surable on the same account. Tacitus says, 
Sea veteris populi Romani prosper a vel ad- 
versa, claris scriptoribus memorata sunt ; 
temporibusque Augusti dicendis non defuere 
decora ingenia, donee gliscente adulatione de- 
terrerentur. Tiberii, Caiique, et Claudii, 
ac Reronis res y florentibus ipsis, ob me turn 
falsce : postquam occiderant, recentibus odiis 
composite stmt, hide consilium mihi pauca 
de Au gusto, et extrema trader e : mox Tiberii 
principatum, et ccetera, sine ira et studio, quo- 
rum causas procul habeo. Thus translated 
by D'Alembert : " Des auteurs illustres ont 
" fait connoitre la gloire et les malheurs 
" de l'ancienne republique ; l'histoire meme 
" d'Auguste a ete ecrite par de grands ge- 
" nies, jusqu'aux terns ou la necessite de 
" flatter les condamna au silence. La 
" crainte menagea tant qu'ils vecurent, Ti- 
" bere, Caius, Claude, et Neron ; des qu'ils 
" ne furent plus, la haine toute recente les 
" dechira. J'ecrirai done en peu de mots 
" la fin du regne d'Auguste, puis celui de 
" Tibere, et les suivans ; sans fiel et sans 
" bassesse : mon caractere m'en eloign e, et 
" les terns m'en dispensent." In the last 



32 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. II. 

part of this passage, the translator has given 
two different meanings to the same clause, 
sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul ha- 
beo, to which the author certainly meant to 
annex only one meaning ; and that, as I 
think, a different one from either of those 
expressed by the translator. To be clearly 
understood, I must give my own version of 
the whole passage. " The history of the 
" ancient republic of Rome, both in its 
" prosperous and in its adverse days, has 
" been recorded by eminent authors : Even 
" the reign of Augustus has been happily 
" delineated, down to those times when the 
" prevailing spirit of adulation put to silence 
" every ingenuous writer. The annals of 
" Tiberius, of Caligula, of Claudius, and of 
" Nero, written while they were alive, were 
" falsified from terror ; as were those histo- 
" ries composed after their death, from ha- 
" tred to their recent memories. For this 
" reason, I have resolved to attempt a short 
" delineation of the latter part of the reign 
" of Augustus ; and afterwards that of Ti- 
" berius, and of the succeeding princes ; 
" conscious of perfect impartiality, as, from 



CHAP. II. TRANSLATION. 33 

" the remoteness of the events, I have no 
w motive, either of odium or adulation." 
In the last clause of this sentence, I believe 
I have given the true version of sine ira et 
studio, quorum causas procul habeo : But 
if this be the true meaning of the au- 
thor, M. D'Alembert has given two diffe- 
rent meanings to the same sentence, and 
neither of them the true one : " sans fiel 
" et sans bassesse : mon caractere m'en 
" 61oigne, et les terns m'en dispensent." 
According to the French translator, the his- 
torian pays a compliment first to his own 
character, and 2dly, to the character of the 
times ; both of which he makes the pledges 
of his impartiality : but it is perfectly clear 
that Tacitus neither meant the one com- 
pliment nor the other ; but intended sim- 
ply to say, that the remoteness of the events 
which he proposed to record, precluded eve- 
ry motive either of unfavourable prejudice 
or of adulation. 



CHAP. III. TRANSLATION. 35 



CHAPTER III. 



Whether it is allowable for a Translator to 
add to or retrench the ideas of the ori~ 
ginal. — Examples of the use and abuse of 
this liberty. — The liberty allowed to the 
Translator depends on the nature of the 
work. 



If it be necessary that a translator should 
give a complete transcript of the ideas of 
the original work, it becomes a question, 
whether it is allowable in any case to add 
to the ideas of the original what may appear 
to give greater force or illustration ; or to 
take from them what may seem to weaken 
them from redundancy. To give a general 
answer to this question, I would say, that 

c2 



86 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. Ill* 

this liberty may be used, but with the great- 
est caution. It must be further observed, 
that the superadded idea shall have the 
most necessary connection with the original 
thought, and actually increase its force. 
And, on the other hand, that whenever an 
idea is cut off by the translator, it must be 
only such as is an accessory, and not a prin- 
cipal in the clause or sentence. It must 
likewise be confessedly redundant, so that 
its retrenchment shall not impair or weaken 
the original thought. Under these limita- 
tions, a translator may exercise his judg- 
ment, and assume to himself, thus far, the 
character of an original writer. 

It will be allowed, that in the following 
instance the translator, the elegant Vincent 
Bourne, has added a very beautiful idea, 
which, while it has a most natural connec- 
tion with th.e original thought, greatly heigh- 
tens its energy and tenderness. The two 
following stanzas are a part of the fine bal- 
lad of Colin and Lucy, by Tickell. 



CHAP, III. TRANSLATION, 37 

To-morrow in the church to wed, 

Impatient both prepare ; 
But know, fond maid, and know, false man, 

That Lucy will be there. 

There bear my corse, ye comrades, bear, 

The bridegroom blithe to meet ; 
He in his wedding-trim so gay, 

I in my winding-sheet. 

Thus translated by Bourne : 

Jungere eras dextrae dextram properatis uterque, 

Et tarde interea creditis ire diem. 
Credula quin virgo, juvenis quin perfide, uterque 

Scite, quod et pacti Lucia testis erit. 

Exangue, oh ! illuc, comites, deferte cadaver, 

Qua semel, oh ! iterum congrediamur, ait ; 4 

Vestibus ornatus sponsalibus ille, caputque 
Ipsa sepulchrali vincta, pedesque stola. 

In this translation, which is altogether 
excellent, it is evident, that there is one 
most beautiful idea superadded by Bourne, 
in the line Qua semel, &c. ; which won- 
derfully improves upon the original thought. 
In the originals the speaker, deeply impres- 
sed with the sense of her wrongs, has no 
other idea than to overwhelm her perjured 

c3 



38 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. III. 

lover with remorse at the moment of his 
approaching nuptials. In the translation, 
amidst this prevalent idea, the speaker all 
at once gives way to an involuntary burst 
of tenderness and affection, " Oh, let us 
" meet once more, and for the last time !" 
Semel, oh ! iter urn congrediamnr, ait. — It was 
only a man of exquisite feeling, who was 
capable of thus improving on so fine an ori- 
ginal *. 

Achilles, (in the first book of the Iliad), 
won by the persuasion of Minerva, resolves, 
though indignantly, to give up Briseis, and 
Patroclus is commanded to deliver her to 
the heralds of Agamemnon : 

fig <P«t*' Tldr^oxXos $1 <plXa hrt7rsifa&' Irxl^ca' 
Ek £' cLyayi K^ie-iris B£i<r/ii$cc xccXXt7rci(>yiov, 
htex.1 £' evyuv tco a uung mjy Tra^ot vqxg A^ptim' 
*H y clzxacr ap<* rojtn yvvt) Ki'iv. 

Ilias, A. 345. 



* There is a French translation of this ballad by Le 
Mierre, which, though far inferior to that of Bourne, has yet 
a great deal of the tender simplicity of the original. See 
a few stanzas in the Appendix, NO. 1. 



CHAP. III. 



TRANSLATION. 39 



" Thus he spoke. But Patroclus was obe- 
" dient to his dear friend. He brought out 
" the beautiful Briseis from the tent, and 
" gave her to be carried away. They re- 
" turned to the ships of the Greeks ; but 
" she unwillingly went, along with her at- 
" tendants." 

Patroclus now th' unwilling Beauty brought ; 
She in soft sorrows, and in pensive thought, 
Past silent, as the heralds held her hand, 
And oft look'd back, slow moving o'er the strand. 

Pope. 

The ideas contained in the three last lines 
are not indeed expressed in the original, 
but they are implied in the word asasca ; 
for she who goes unwillingly, will move 
slowly^ and oft look back. The amplifica- 
tion highly improves the effect of the pic- 
ture. It may be incidentally remarked, 
that the pause in the third line, Past silent^ 
is admirably characteristic of the slow and 
hesitating motion which it describes. 

In the poetical version of the 137th Psalm, 
by Arthur Johnston, a compostion of clas- 

c4 



40 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. III. 

sical elegance, there are several examples 
of ideas superadded by the translator, inti- 
mately connected with the original thoughts, 
and greatly heightening their energy and 
beauty. 

Urbe procul Solymae, fusi Babylonis ad undas 

Flevimus, et lachrymae fluminis instai erant ; 
Sacra Sion toties animo totiesque recursans, 

Materiem lachrymis praebuit usque novis : 
Desuetas saliceta lyras, et muta ferebant 

Nablia, servili non temeranda manu. 
Qui patria exegit, patriam qui submit, hostis 

Pendula captivos sumere plectra jubet : 
Imperat et laetos, mediis in fletibus, hymnos, 

Quosque Sion cecinit, nunc taciturna ! modos. 
Ergone pacta Deo peregrinae barbita genti 

Fas erit, et sacras prostituisse lyras ? 
Ante meo, Solyme, quam tu de pectore cedas, 

Nesciat Hebragam tangere dextra chelyn. 
Te nisi tollat ovans imam super omnia, lingua 

Faucibus haerescat sidere tacta meis. 
Ne tibi noxa recens, scelerum Deus ultor ! Idumes 

Excidat, et Solymis perniciosa dies : 
Vertite, clamabant, fundo jam vertite templum, 

Tectaque montanis jam habitanda feris. 
Te quoq.se poena manet, Babylon ! quibus astra lacessis 

Culmina mox fient, quod premis, aequa solo : 



6HAP. III. 



TRANSLATION. 41 



Felicem, qui clade pari data damna rependet^ 

Et feret ultrices in tua tecta faces ! 
Felicem, quisquis scopulis illidet acutis 

Dulcia materno pignora rapta sinu ! 

I pass over the superadded idea in the 
second line, lachrymce fluminis instar erant 9 
because bordering on the hyperbole, it de- 
rogates, in some degree, from the chaste 
simplicity of the original. To the simple 
fact, " We hanged our harps on the willows 
" in the midst thereof," which is most poeti- 
cally conveyed by Demttas saliceta h/ras, et 
rnuta ferebant nublia, is superadded all the 
force of sentiment in that beautiful expres- 
sion,which so strongly paints the mixed emo- 
tions of a proud mind under the influence of 
poignant grief, heightened by shame, servill 
non temeranda manu. So likewise in the 
following stanza there is the noblest im- 
provement of the sense of the original : 

Imperat et laetos, mediis in fletibus., hynmos, 
Quosque Sion cecinit, nunc taciturna ! modos. 

The reflection on the melancholy silence 
that now reigned on that sacred hill, " once 



42 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. III. 

" vocal with their songs," is an additional 
thought, the force of which is better felt 
than it can be conveyed by words. 

An ordinary translator sinks under the 
energy of his original : the man of genius 
frequently rises above it. Horace, arraign- 
ing the abuse of riches, makes the plain and 
honest Ofellus thus remonstrate with a 
wealthy Epicure, (Sat. 2. b. 2.) 

Cur eget indignus quisquam te divite ? 

A question, to the energy of which it was 
not easy to add, but which has received 
the most spirited improvement from Mr 
Pope : 

How dar'st thou let one worthy man be poor ? 

An improvement is sometimes very hap- 
pily made, by substituting figure and meta- 
phor for simple sentiment ; as in the fol- 
lowing example, from Mr Mason's excel- 
lent translation of Du Fresnoy's Art of 
Painting. In the original, the poet, treat- 



CHAP. III. TRANSLATION, 43 

ing of the merits of the antique statues, 
says : 

, queis posterior nil protulit setas 

Condignum, et non inferius longc, arte modoque. 

This is a simple fact, in the perusal of which 
the reader is struck with nothing else but 
the truth of the assertion. Mark how in 
the translation the same truth is conveyed 
in one of the finest figures of poetry : 

■ ' with reluctant gaze 
To these the genius of succeeding days 
Looks dazzled up, and, as their glories spread, 
Hides in his mantle his diminish'd head. 

The description of the Spring, in the se- 
cond Georgic, is possessed of very high 
poetic merit ; and the following passage, 
from which Buchanan has taken the idea of 
his Calendce Mai<z 9 is consummately beauti- 
ful : 

Non alios prima crescentis origine mundi 

Illuxisse dies, aliumve habuisse tenorem 
Crediderim : ver illud erat, ver magnus agebat 
Orbis, et hybernis parcebant flatibus Euri ; 
Quum primae lucem pecudes hausere, virumque 
Ferrea progenies duris caput extulit arvis 
Immissseque ferae silvis, et sidera ccelq* 



44 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. III. 

In a late translation of the Georgics by 
Mr Sotheby, a work of very high merit, 
and by far the best that has yet appeared 
of that Poem, this passage receives a fine 
improvement, by the substitution of an 
apostrophe, for the simple narrative : 

Yes ! lovely Spring ! when rose the world to birth, 

Thy genial radiance dawn'd upon the earth ; 

Beneath thy balmy air creation grew, 

And no bleak gale on infant nature blew. 

When herds first drank the light ; from earth's rude bed 

When first man's iron race uprear'd its head ; 

When first to beasts the wilds and woods were given, 

And stars unnumber'd pav'd th' expanse of heaven, &c. 

In the two following lines, Horace incul- 
cates a striking moral truth ; but the figure 
in which it is conveyed, has nothing of dig- 
nity : 

Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas 
Eegumque turres. ■ 

Malherbe has given to the same senti- 
ment a high portion of tenderness, and even 
sublimity : 

Le pauvre en sa cabane, ou le chaume le couvre, 
Est sujet a ses loix ; 



CHAP. Ill* TRANSLATION* 45 

Et la garde qui veille aux barrieres du Louvre, 
N'en defend pas nos rois *. 

Cicero writes thus to Trebatius, Ep. ad 
fam. lib. 7. ep. 17. Tanquam enim syngra- 
pham ad Lnperatorem, non epistolam attulis- 
ses, sic pecunia ablatd domam redire pr opera- 
has; nee tibi in mentem veniebat, eos ipsos 
qui cum syngr aphis venissent Alexandriam^ 
nullum adhuc nummum auferre potuisse. 
The passage is thus translated by Melmoth, 
b. 2. 1. 12. u One would have imagined 
" indeed, you had carried a bill of exchange 
u upon Caesar, instead of a letter of recom- 
" mendation : As you seemed to think you 
" had nothing more to do, than to receive 
" your money, and to hasten home again. 
" But money, my friend, is not so easily 
" acquired ; and I could name some of our 
" acquaintance, who have been obliged to 
" travel as far as Alexandria in pursuit of 
" it, without having yet been able to obtain 



* From the modern allusion, barrieres du Louvre, this pas- 
sage, strictly speaking, falls under the description of imitation, 
rather than of translation. See posted, ch. xi. 



46 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. Ill, 

" even their just demands." The expres- 
sions, " money, my friend, is not so easily ac- 
" quired" and, " I could name some of our 
" acquaintance" are not to be found in the 
original ; but they have an obvious connec- 
tion with the ideas of the original : they in- 
crease their force, while, at the same time, 
they give ease and spirit to the whole pas- 
sage. 

I question much if a licence so unbound- 
ed as the following is justifiable, on the 
principle of giving either ease or spirit to 
the original. 

In Lucian's Dialogue Timon, Gnathoni- 
des, after being beaten by Timon, says to 
him, 

Aet (piXofTzafAfAav orv ys' aXXa sr£ ro ffvp'ro- 
■triov ; ug Ttociov ri cot depot ray vsooioazrav OiOvgup,- 
(3&v n%a %oyJ£ojv, 



You were always fond of a joke — but 
where is the banquet ? for I have brought 
you a new dithirambic song, which I have 
" lately learned." 



u 



CHAP. III. PRINCIPLES OP 47 

In Dryden's Lucian, " translated by se- 
" veral eminent hands,'* this passage is thus 
translated :. " Ah ! Lord, Sir, I see you 
" keep up your old merry humour still ; 
" you love dearly to rally and break a jest. 
" Well but have you got a noble supper for 
" us, and plenty of delicious inspiring cla- 
" ret ? Hark ye, Timon, I've got a virgin- 
" song for ye, just new composed, and smells 
" of the gamut : 'Twill make your heart 
" dance within you, old boy. A very pret- 
" ty she-player, I vow to Gad, that I have 
" an interest in, taught it me this morn- 



ing." 



There is both ease and spirit in this trans- 
lation ; but the licence which the translator 
has assumed, of superadding to the ideas of 
the original, is beyond all bounds. 

An equal degree of judgment is requi- 
site when the translator assumes the liberty 
of retrenching the ideas of the original. 

After the fatal horse had been admitted 
within the walls of Troy, Virgil thus de- 



48 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. III. 

scribes the coming on of that night which 
was to witness the destruction of the city : 

Vertitur interea ecelum, et ruit oceano nox, 
Involvens umbra magna terramque polumque, 
Myrmido7iumque dolos. 

The principal effect attributed to the 
night, in this description, and certainly the 
most interesting, is its concealment of the 
treachery of the Greeks. Add to this, the 
beauty which the picture acquires from this 
association of natural with moral effects. 
How inexcusable then must Mr Dryden ap- 
pear, who, in his translation, has suppressed 
the Myrmidonumque dolos altogether ? 

Mean time the rapid heav'ns roll'd down the light, 
And on the shaded ocean rush'd the night : 
Our men secure, &c. 

Ogilby, with less of the spirit of poetry, 
has done more justice to the original ; 

Meanwhile night rose from sea, whose spreading shade 
Hides heaven and earth, and plots the Grecians laid. 



CHAP. III. TRANSLATION. 49 

Mr Pope, in his translation of the Iliad, 
has, in the parting scene between Hector 
and Andromache (vi. 466), omitted a parti- 
cular respecting the dress of the nurse, 
which he thought an impropriety in the 
picture. Homer says, 

A\J/ (? o tret'ig Kgog zohirov Yv^moio riOqvns 

" The boy crying, threw himself back into 
" the arms of his nurse, whose waist was 
" elegantly girt." Mr Pope, who has sup- 
pressed the epithet descriptive of the waist, 
has incurred on that account the censure of 
Mr Melmoth, who says, " He has not touch- 
w ed the picture with that delicacy of pen- 
" cil which graces the original, as he has 
" entirely lost the beauty of one of the fi- 
" gures.-r-^Though the hero and his son 
u were designed to draw our principal at- 
" tention, Homer intended likewise that 
" we should cast a glance towards the 
" nurse." Fitzosborme's Letters, 1. 43. If 
this was Homer's intention, he has, in 
my opinion, shewn less good taste in this 

D 



50 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. III. 

instance than his translator, who has, I 
think with much propriety, left out the com- 
pliment to the nurse's waist altogether. 
And this liberty of the translator was per- 
fectly allowable ; for Homer's epithets are 
often nothing more than mere expletives, 
or additional designations of his persons. 
They are always, it is true, significant of 
some attribute of the person ; but they are 
often applied by the poet in circumstances 
where the mention of that attribute is quite 
preposterous. It would shew very little 
judment in a translator, who should honour 
Patroclus with the epithet of godlike, while 
he is blowing the fire to roast an ox ; or be- 
stow on Agamemnon the designation of 
King of mam; nations, while he is helping 
Ajax to a large piece of the chine. 

But, on the other hand, it is evident, that 
no such liberty of retrenchment is pardonable 
in a translator, when the epithet suppressed 
is characteristic of the object, or gives addi- 
tional force to the sentiment. Thus, in the 
opening part of the scene above alluded to, 



CHAP. III. 



TRANSLATION* 51 



where Andromache comes out to meet her 
husband : 

f/ H oi %xifl yvlii? 9 Uf-uc £' cipQiTroXoi; zizv aCry, 

UoLtd i7Tf Z0X7TOV i^QiT CCTXXcttypOVX, V^TTtOV CLVTUq., 

'ExlopioriV uyx7rylov uXiyKM ks'ipi xxXa. 

The nurse stood near, in whose embraces prest, 
His only hope hung smiling at her breast, 
Whom each soft charm and early grace adorn, 
Fair as the new-born star that gilds the morn. 

Mr Pope has here inexcusably suppres- 
sed the highly significant epithet, o/aXacp^va, 
which so beautifully expresses the insensibly 
lit jl of the infant (" having no feeling of its 
own misery"). 

It were to be wished, that Mr Melmoth, 
who is certainly one of the best of the Eng- 
lish translators, had always been as scrupu- 
lous in retrenching the ideas of his author, 
as we might have expected from his censure 
of Mr Pope. Cicero thus superscribes one 
of his letters: M. T. C. Terentia, et Pater 
suavissimce jilia Tulliola, Cicero matri et so- 
rori & D. (Ep. Fam. 1. 14. ep. 18.) And 

d2 



S2 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII. 

and another in this manner : Tullius Teren- 
tice, et Pater Tullioltz, duabus animis suis, et 
Cicero Matri optima^ suavissimce sorori. (Lib. 
14. ep. 14.) Why are these addresses en- 
tirely sunk in the translation, and a naked 
title poorly substituted for them, " To Te- 
" rentia and Tullia," and " To the same ?" 
The addresses to these letters give them 
their highest value, as they mark the warmth 
of the author's heart, and the strength of 
his conjugal and paternal affections. 

In one of Pliny's Epistles, speaking of 
Regulus, he says, Ut ipse mihi dixerit quum 
consuleret, quam cito sestertium sexcenties 
impleturus esset, invenisse se exta duplicata, 
quibus portendi ?iiillie$ et ducenties habiturum, 
(Plin. Ep. 1. % ep. 20,) Thus translated by 
Melmoth : " That he once told me, upon 
" consulting the omens, to know how soon 
" he should be worth sixty millions of ses- 
" terces, he found them so favourable to 
" him as to portend that he should pos- 
" sess double that sum." Here a material 
part of the original idea is omitted ; no 
less than that very circumstance upon which 



CHAP. III. TRANSLATION. 53 

the omen turned, viz. that the entrails of 
the victim were double. 

Claudian thus describes a rotnantic so- 
litude on the sea-coat, near Marseilles, which 
was feigned to be haunted by spirits : 

Est locus extremum pandit qua Gallia littus 
Oceani prcetentus aquis, quafertur Ulysses 
Sanguine libato populum movisse silentum : 
Illic umbrarum tenui stridore volantdm 
Flebilis auditur questus ; simulacra coloni 
Pallida, defunctasque vident migrare Jiguras. 

Claud. In Ruf. I. U 

Thus translated by Mr Addison : 

A place there lies on Gallia's utmost bounds, 
Where rising seas insult the frontier grounds : 
Ulysses here the blood of victims shed, 
And rais'd the pale assembly of the dead : 
Oft in the winds is heard a plaintive sound 
Of melancholy ghosts that hover round ; 
The lab'ring plowman oft with horror spies 
Thin airy shapes, that o'er the furrows rise, 
A dreadful scene ! and skim before his eyes 

Remattcs on several parts of Italy < 

d3 



\ 



54 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. III. 

This translation, on the whole, has much 
merit ; and the latter part, " The lab'ring 
" plowman," &c. perhaps improves on the 
beauty of the original : but one circum- 
stance eminently characteristic, is very im- 
perfectly conveyed, tenui stridore volantum ; 
the faint rushing sound of the spirits in 
their flight. 

Analogous to the liberty of adding to or 
retrenching from the ideas of the original, 
is the privilege which a translator may as- 
sume of correcting what appears to him a 
careless or inaccurate expression of the ori- 
ginal, where that inaccuracy seems materi- 
ally to affect the sense. Tacitus says, when 
Tiberius was entreated to take upon him the 
government of the empire, llle varie dissere- 
bat, de magnitudine imperii, sua modestia. 
An. 1. 1. c. 11. Here the word modestia is 
improperly applied. The author could not 
mean to say, that Tiberius discoursed to the 
people about his own modesty. He wished 
that his discourse should seem to proceed 
from modesty ; but he did not talk to them 
about his modesty. D'Alembert saw this 



CHAP. III. TRANSLATION. 55 

impropriety, and he has therefore well trans- 
lated the passage : ' II repondit par des 
" discours gen6raux sur son peu de talent, 
" et sur la grandeur de F empire." 

A similar impropriety, not indeed affect- 
ing the sense, but offending against the dig- 
nity of the narrative, occurs in that passage 
where Tacitus relates, that Augustus, in the 
decline of life, after the death of Drusus, ap- 
pointed his son Germanicus to the command 
of eight legions on the Rhine, At, hercule, 
Germanicum Druso ortum octo apud Rhe- 
num legionibus imposuit, An. 1. 1. c. 3. There 
was no occasion here for the historian swear- 
ing ; and though, to render the passage with 
strict fidelity, an English translator must 
have said, " Augustus, Egad, gave German 
" nicus, the son of Drusus, the command of 
" eight legions on the Rhine," we can- 
not hesitate to say, that the simple fact is 
better announced without such embellish- 
ment. 

It may be stated as a general observation, 
that the nature of the work ought to regu- 

d4 



56 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. III. 

late the conduct of the translator with re- 
gard to the strictness he must observe, or 
the liberties he may use with his original. 
Works which consist of fact and detail de- 
mand a more scrupulous fidelity than those 
of which the basis is sentiment. 

We have very little of professed transla-* 
tion from the pen of Justus Lipsius, except 
some small portions of Polybius, which were 
necessary for illustrating his own Treatise 
on the Roman Art of War. These passages 
are rendered into Latin with the most exact 
conformity to the original text ; the writer 
justly remarking, that in interpreting those 
parts of an ancient author which treat of 
controverted facts, or contain descriptions 
that admit of different opinions, even the 
change of a single word may be of conse- 
quence : cum de re agitur, verbum additum 
aut omissum, aut laxius etiam redditum, mag- 
nets facit vel mutationes, vel errationes. 
That the same learned writer judged so scru- 
pulous a fidelity by no means requisite in 
the exercise of the usual duty of a transla- 
tor, we learn from the advice he gives ta 



CHAP. III. TRANSLATION. 5*t 

a friend, who was then engaged in trans- 
lating the Treatise De Constantia (a work 
of Lipsius) into German. This advice, 
which, though given in the writer's quaint 
manner, is equally the result of a sound 
judgment and a just taste, is applicable 
to all works of which sentiment and elo- 
quence are the basis, rather than fact of 
narration : " Const antiam nostram—vertis. 
Vidi specimen et probo* Illud tamen vellem, 
plus aliquid tibi permitteres, nee vestigia us- 
qucquaque sermonis Latini premeres pede 
tarn certo. Arcta per hanc cur am versio, as- 
tricta, tenuis, sape obscura. Est sum itf* 
delicet cuique lingua genius, quern noli avel- 
las, nee temere migrare jusser is in corpus alie- 
num. Quam mult a Latine breviter scripse- 
rim ; qua si totidem verbis transferas, sen- 
tentia nee plana satis, nee plena sit ! Qudm 
mult a recte et alte\ qua in alia lingua jace* 
ant, aut vacillent ! Quod iis prcesertim eve* 
nit, quorum stilus paullo magis ab eruditione 
habet et a curd. Jam allusiones illas anno* 
minationes, fiexus, et in uno sape verbo ima- 
gines, qua tarn dextra mens vertat, ut eadem 
vk Us aut Venus ? Exorbita igitur : et hoc 



58 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. III. 

erit rectam in vertendo viam tenere, viam non 
tenere. 

But if such was Lipsius's opinion of the 
freedom which ought to be allowed, and is 
even required in the translation of a rheto- 
rical composition, we have seen, that both 
by his precept and example, he disappro- 
ved of all amplification in works of an histo- 
rical nature, cum de re agitur. It is indeed 
much to be regretted, when works of this 
kind fall, by unlucky chance, into the hands 
of a pedantic translator, who piques himself 
on his talent for elegant embellishment. In 
the Latin version by Bartolomseus Facius 
of Arrian's History of the Expedition of 
Alexander, the original work, which in the 
simplicity of the narrative rivals the compo- 
sition of Xenophon or Caesar, is in a thou- 
sand instances miserably disfigured by the 
impertinent amplifications and rhetorical 
ornaments of the translator. I shall give a 
single specimen, which is noticed in the 
Preface by Vulcanius to Henry Stephen's 
edition of Arrian, 1575. The Greek au- 
thor, mentioning the false report of Alex- 



CHAP. III. TRANSLATION. 59 

ander's death, in consequence of a wound 
received in fighting against the Malli, and 
the effect which that report had upon the 
Grecian army, says, 

Ka< rc\ psv TTgarct olftayij qv rq$ fgulioig |t»^- 
troMrrjS, ocXXa ctXka Kctgcthiiovlog rrjv (pqfW vctv- 
catAWOi de rrig otfjbvyqg, ctQvpoi re zcti ukopoi qmv, 
o?ig [a\v sSgrjyzfASi/og strict i rqg fgofltoig, (noXXoig 
yctg dy sv itrta ret Trig ct^icutrsag iioxet itgog rz a«7* 
'AXsfai^* sect) rgoc, M.ctzed6vav zctDzfiinsvctt)' 

" At first there was a general voice of la- 
" mentation through the whole army ; each 
" man conveying the disastrous intelligence 
" to his neighbour : but when that lamenta- 
" tion abated, all became anxious and doubt- 
" ful who should be the proper person to 
" take the chief command : (for there were 
" several officers who, in the judgment both 
" of the Macedonians and of Alexander 
" himself, seemed to be equally deserving 
" of that important charge)." Such is the 
literal sense of the passage : let us now ob- 
serve how it is rendered bv Facius. Ac 
primiim quidem ejulatus ac fremitus toth 



60 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. III. 

castrisfuit, regis suifortunam deplorantium : 
Tanturn imperatorem ac duce?n> in tanto ceta- 
tisflore, tantisque rebus gestis, in ipso rerum 
cardine, quum is totum orbem terrarum im- 
perio suo subjecturus videretur, sibi immatura 
morte ereptum* Invidisse Deos f elicit at i ejus, 
qui invictum per tot gentes regem^ atque om- 
nibus terris formidabilem, et Deo quam mor- 
tali similiorem, e vita sustulissent* Deinde 
ad se conversi, sort em suam deplorare ac la- 
mentari, animi simul et consilii inopes, quis- 
nam tanti exercitus dux^postliac futurus esset, 
inter se mcesti requirebant. Plerique rem 
Alexandri et Macedojium in cequo ponebant. 
In this piece of splendid declamation, which 
must have been allowed the praise of elo- 
quence, if it had appeared in the speech of an 
orator, the translator is guilty of three egre- 
gious faults : He has mutilated in one part 
his author's sense; for "AXXov cLKka nugudtiovlos 
rnv (p'/i^w is not translated at all : he has, in 
the last clause of the sentence, mistaken the 
author's meaning, in the words, voXXolg yag 
in h Uu rijg uZioHreug, &c. ; and he has, through 
the whole, introduced a variety of additional 
ideas, and reflections political and moral, re- 



CHAP. III. TRANSLATION. 61 

Guarding the fortunes and fate of Alexander, 
of which there is not a trace in the original ; 
thus interpolating, disfiguring and disguising 
his author, and utterly departing from his 
style and manner, so as scarcely to leave a 
resemblance between the copy and its pro- 
totype, 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION* 63 



CHAR IV. 



Of the freedom allowed in Poetical Transla- 
tion. — Progress of Poetical Translation in 
England. — B. Johnson, Holiday, Sandys, 
Fanshaw, Dry den. — Roscommon 9 s Essay 
on Translated Verse. — Popes Homer. 



In the preceding chapter, in treating of the 
liberty assumed by translators, of adding to, 
or retrenching from the ideas of the origi- 
nal, several -examples have been given, where 
that liberty has been assumed with propriety 
both in prose composition and in poetry. In 
the latter, it is more peculiarly allowable. " I 
" conceive it," says Sir John Denham, "a vul- 
" gar error in translating poets, to affect be- 
" mg nans interpres. Let that care be with 
" them who deal in matters of fact or mat- 



64 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. IT. 

" ters of faith ; but whosoever aims at it 
" in poetry, as he attempts at what is not 
" required, so shall he never perform what he 
" attempts ; for it is not his business alone 
" to translate language into language, but 
" poesie into poesie ; and poesie is of so 
" subtle a spirit, that in pouring out of one 
" language into another, it will all evapo- 
" rate ; and if a new spirit is not added in 
" the transfusion, there will remain nothing 
u but a caput mortuum" Denhams Pre- 
face to the %d book of VirgiVs 2E?ieid. 

In poetical translation, the English wri- 
ters of the 16th, and the greatest part of 
the 17th century, seem to have had no other 
care than (in Denham's phrase) to translate 
language into language, and to have placed 
their whole merit in presenting a literal and 
servile transcript of their original. 

Ben Johnson, in his translation of Ho- 
race's Art of Poetry, has paid no attention 
to the judicious precept of the very poem 
he was translating : 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 65 

Nee verbum verbo curabis reddere, Jidus 
Interpres. 

Witness the following specimens, which will 
strongly illustrate Denham's judicious ob- 
servations. 

Mortal ia facta peribunt ; 



Nedum sermonum stet honos et gratia vivax. 
Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere, cadentqu.e 
Quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus, 
Quern penes arbitrium est et jus et norma loquendi. 

De Art. Poet. 

All mortal deeds 



Shall perish ; so far off it is the state 
Or grace of speech should hope a lasting date. 
Much phrase that now is dead shall be reviv'd., 
And much shall die that now is nobly liv'd, 
If custom please, at whose disposing will 
The power and rule of speaking resteth still. 

B. JOHNSOX 

Inierdum tamen et vocem Comcedia tollit, 
Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore, 
Et Tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri. 
Telephus et Peleus, cum pauper et exul uterque^ 
Projicit ampidlas et sesqidpedalia verba. 
Si curat cor spectantis tetigisse querela; 
E 



66 



PRINCIPLES OP 



CHAP. IV. 



Yet sometime doth the Comedy excite, 

Her voice, and angry Chremes chafes outright, 

With swelling throat, and oft the tragic wight 

Complains in humble phrase. Both Telephus 

And Peleus, if they seek to heart-strike us, 

That are spectators, with their misery, 

When they are poor and banish'd, must throw by 

Their bombard-phrase, and foot-and-half-foot words. 

B. Johnson". 

So, in B. Johnson's translations from the 
Odes and Epodes of Horace, besides the 
most servile adherence to the words, even 
the measure of the original is imitated. 



Non me Lucrina juverint conchylia, 

Magisve rhombus, aut scari, 
Si quos Eois intonata fluctibus 

Hyems ad hoc vertat mare : 
Non Afra avis descendat in ventrem meum, 

Non attagen Ionicus. 
Jucundior, quam lecta de pinguissimis 

Oliva ramis arborum ; 
Aut herba lapathi prata amantis, et gravi 

Malvse salubres corpori. 

Hor. Epod. 2. 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 67 

Not Lucrine oysters I could then more prize, 

Nor turbot, nor bright golden eyes ; 
If with east floods the winter troubled much 

Into our seas send any such : 
The Ionian godwit, nor the ginny-hen 

Could not go down my belly then 
More sweet than olives that new-gather'd be, 

From fattest branches of the tree, 
Or the herb sorrel that loves meadows still, 

Or mallows loosing bodies ill. 

B. Johnson. 

Of the same character for rigid fidelity, 
is the translation of Juvenal by Holiday, a 
writer of great learning, and even of criti- 
cal acuteness, as the excellent commentary 
on his author fully shews. 

Omnibus in terris quce sunt a Gadibus usque 
Auroram et Gangem pauci dignoscere possunt 
Vera bona, atque Mis multum diversa, remote 
Erroris nebidd. Quid enim ratione timemus, 
Ant cvpimus ? quid tarn dextro pede concipis, ut tc 
Conatus non poeniteat, votique peracti. 
Evertsre domos totas optantibus ipsis 
Diijaciles. 

Juv. Sat. 10. 
£2 



68 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV. 

In all the world which between Cadiz lies 
And eastern Ganges, few there are so wise 
To know true good from feign' d, without all mist 
Of Error. For by Reason's rule what is't 
We fear or wish ? What is't we e'er begun 
With foot so right, but we dislik'd it done ? 
Whole houses th' easie gods have overthrown 
At their fond prayers that did the houses own. 

Holiday's Juvenal. 



There were, however, even in that age, 
some writers who manifested a better taste 
in poetical translation. May, in his trans- 
lation of Lucan's Pharsalia, and Sandys, in 
his Metamorphoses of Ovid, while they 
strictly adhered to the sense of their au- 
thors, and generally rendered line for line, 
have given to their versions both an ease 
of expression and a harmony of num- 
bers, which make them approach very near 
to original composition. The reason is, 
they have disdained to confine themselves 
to a literal interpretation, but have every 
where adapted their expression to the idiom 
of the language in which they wrote. 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 69 

The following passage will give no unfa- 
vourable idea of the style and manner of 
May. In the 9th book of the Pharsalia, 
Caesar, when in Asia, is led from curiosity 
to visit the Plain of Troy. 

Here fruitless trees, old oaks with putrefy'd 
And sapless roots, the Trojan houses hide, 
And temples of their Gods : all Troy's o'erspread 
With bushes thick, her mines ruined. 
He sees the bridall grove Anchises lodg'd ; 
Hesione's rock ; the cave where Paris judg'd ; 
Where nymph Oenone play'd ; the place so fam'd 
For Ganymedes' rape; each stone is nam'd. 
A little gliding stream, which Xanthus was, 
Unknown he past, and in the lofty grass 
Securely trode ; a Phrygian straight forbid 
Him tread on Hector's dust ! (with ruins hid, 
The stone retain'd no sacred memory.) 
Respect you not great Hector's tomb, quoth he ! 
— O great and sacred work of poesy, 
That free'st from fate, and giv'st eternity 
To mortal wights ! But Caesar, envy not 
Their living names, if Roman Muses aught 
May promise thee, while Homer's honoured 
By future times, shall thou, and I, be read : 

e3 



^0 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IT. 

No age shall us with darke oblivion staine, 
But our Pharsalia ever shall remain. 

May's Lucan. b. Q. 



Jam silvae steriles, et putres robore trunci 
Assaraci pressere domos, et templa deorum 
Jam lassa radice tenent : ac tota teguntur 
Pergama dumetis ; etiam periere ruinae. 
Aspicit Hesiones scopulos, silvasque latentes 
Anchisae thalamos ; quo judex sederit antro ; 
Unde puer raptus coelo ; quo vertice Nais 
Luserit Oenone : nullum est sine nomine saxum. 
Inscius in sicco serpentem pulvere rivum 
Transierat, qui Xanthus erat ; securus in alto 
Gramine ponebat gressus : Phrj'x incola manes 
Hectoreos calcare vetat : discussa jacebant 
Saxa, nee ullius faciem servantia sacri : 
Hectoreas, monstrator ait, non respicis aras ? 
O sacer, et magnus vatum labor ; omnia fato 
Eripis, et populis donas mortalibus aavum ! 
Invidia sacral, Caesar, ne tangere famae : 
Nam siquid Latiis fas est promittere Musis, 
Quantum Smyrnei durabunt vatis honores, 
Venturi me teque legent : Pharsalia nostra 
Vivet, et a nullo tenebris damnabitur aevo. 

Pliarsal. I g. 



CHAP. IV. 



TRANSLATION. 71 



Independently of the excellence of the 
above translation, in completely conveying 
the sense, the force, and spirit of the ori- 
ginal, it possesses one beauty which the more 
modern English poets have entirely neglect- 
ed, or rather purposely banished from their 
versification in rhyme ; I mean the varied 
harmony of the measure, which arises from 
changing the place of the pauses. In the 
modern heroic rhyme, the pause is almost 
invariably found at the end of a couplet. 
In the older poetry, the sense is continued 
from one couplet to another, and closes in 
various parts of the line, according to the 
poet's choice, and the completion of his 
his meaning : 

A little gliding stream, which Xanthus was, 
Unknown he past — and in the lofty grass 
Securely trode — a Phrygian straight forbid 
Him tread on Hector's dust — with ruins hid, 
The stone retain'd no sacred memory. 

He must be greatly deficient in a musi- 
cal ear, who does not prefer the varied bar- 

e 4 



72 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV. 

mony of the above lines to the uniform 
return of sound, and chiming measure of 
the following ; 

Here all that does of Xanthus stream remain. 
Creeps a small brook along the dusty plain. 
While careless and securely on they pass. 
The Phrygian guide forbids to press the grass ; 
This place, he said, for ever sacred keep, 
For here the sacred bones of Hector sleep : 
Then warns him to observe, where rudely cast, 
Disjointed stones lay broken and defac'd. 

Rowe's Lucan. 

Yet the Pharsalia by Rowe is, on the 
whole, one of the best of the modern trans- 
lations of the classics. Though sometimes 
diffuse and paraphrastical, it is in general 
faithful to the sense of the original ; the 
language is animated, the verse correct 
and melodious ; and when we consider the 
extent of the work, it is not unjustly 
characterised by Dr Johnson, as one of 
" the greatest productions of English poe- 
!' try." 



CHAP. IV. 



TRANSLATION. 73 



Of similar character to the versification 
of May, though sometimes more harsh in 
its structure, is the poetry of Sandys : 

There's no Alcyone ! none,, none ! she died 
Together with her Cej^x. Silent be 
All sounds of comfort. These, these eyes did see 
My shipwrecked Lord. I knew him ; and my hands 
Thrust forth t' have held him : but no mortal bands 
Could force his stay. A ghost ! yet manifest, 
My husband's ghost : which, Oh, but ill express'd 
His forme and beautie, late divinely rare ! 
Now pale and naked, with yet dropping haire : 
Here stood the miserable ! in this place : 
Here, here ! (and sought his aerie steps to trace). 

Sandys' Ovid, b. 11. 

Nulla est Alcyone, nulla est, ait ,* occidit una 
Cum Ceyce suo ; solantia tollite verba : 
Naufragus interiit ; vidi agnovique, manusque 
Ad discedentem, cupiens retinere, tetendi. 
Umbra fuit : sed et umbra tamen manifesto, virique 
Vera mei ; non ille quidem, si quceris, habebat 
Assuetos vultus, nee quo prius ore nitebat. 
Tallentem, nudumque, et adhuc humente capillo. 



74 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV* 

Infelix vidi : stetit hoc miserabilis ipso 

Ecce loco : (et qucerit vestigia siqua supersint.) 

Metam. I 11. 

In the above example, the solantia tollite 
verba is translated with peculiar felicity, 
" Silent be all sounds of comfort ;" as are 
these words, Aec quo prius ore nitebat y 
" Which, oh ! but ill express'd his forme 
" and beautie." " No mortal bands could 
" force his stay," has no strictly correspond- 
ing sentiment in the original. It is a hap- 
py amplification ; which shews that Sandys 
knew what freedom was allowed to a poeti- 
cal translator, and could avail himself of 
it. 

From the time of Sandys, who published 
his translation of the Metamorphoses of 
Ovid, in 1626, there does not appear to 
have been much improvement in the art of 
translating poetry till the age of Dry den * : 



* In the poetical works of Milton, we find many noble 
imitations of detached passages of the ancient classics ; but 
there is nothing that can be termed a translation, unless aa 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 75 

for though Sir John Denham has thought 
proper to pay a high compliment to Fan- 
shaw on his translation of the Pastor* Fido y 
terming him the inventor of " a new and 
" nobler way *" of translation, we find no- 
thing in that performance which should en- 
title it to more praise than the Metamoiv 
phoses by Sandys, and the Pharsalia by 
May f, 



English version of Horace's Ode to Pyrrha ; which it is pro-* 
bable the author meant as a whimsical experiment of the ef- 
fect of a strict conformity in English both to the expression 
and measure of the Latin. See this singular composition in 
the Appendix, NO. 2. 

* That servile path thou nobly dost decline, 
Of tracing word by word, and line by line. 
A new and nobler way thou dost pursue, 
To make translations and translators too : 
They but preserve the ashes, thou the flame ; 
True to his sense, but truer to his fame. 

Denham to Sir R. Fanshavf. 

t One of the best passages of Fanshaw's translation of the 
Pastor Fido, is the celebrated apostrophe to Spring ; 



/O PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV. 

But it was to Dryden that poetical trans- 
lation owed a complete emancipation from 
her fetters ; and exulting in her new liber- 
ty, the danger now w r as, that she should run 



Spring, the year's youth, fair mother of new flowers, 

New leaves, new loves, drawn by the winged hours. 

Thou art return'd ; but the felicity 

Thou brought'st me last is not return'd with thee. 

Thou art return'd ; but nought returns with thee. 

Save my lost joy's regretful memory. 

Thou art the self-same thing thou wert before, 

As fair and jocund : but I am no more 

The thing I was, so gracious in her sight, 

Who is heavens masterpiece and earth's delight. 

O bitter sweets of love ! far worse it is 

To lose than never to have tasted bliss. 

O Primavera gioventu del anno, 

Bella madre di nori, 

D'herbe novelle, e di novelli amori : 

Tu torni ben, ma teco, 

Non tornano i sereni 

E fortunati di de le mie gioie ! 

Tu torni ben, tu torni, 

Ma teco altro non torna 

Ghe del perduto mio caro tesoro 

La rimembranza misera e dolente. 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 77 

into the extreme of licentiousness. The 
followers of Dryden saw nothing so much 
to be emulated in his translations as the 
ease of his poetry : Fidelity was but a se- 
condary object, and translation for a while 
was considered as synonymous with para- 
phrase. A judicious spirit of criticism was 
now wanting, to prescribe bounds to this 
increasing licence, and to determine to what 
precise degree a poetical translator might 
assume to himself the character of an ori- 
ginal writer. In that design, Roscommon 
wrote his Essay on Translated Verse; in 



Tu quella se tu quella, 

Ch'eri pur dianzi vezzosa e bella. 

Ma non son io gia quel ch'un tempo fui> 

Si earo a gli occhi altrui. 

O dolcezze amarissime d'amore ! 

Quanto e piu duro perdervi, che mai 

Non v'haver 6 provate, 6 possedute ! 

Pastor Fido, act 3. sc. 1. 

In those parts of the English version which are marked in 
Italics, there is some attempt towards a freedom of transla- 
tion ; but it is a freedom of which Sandys and May had long 
before given many happier specimens. 



78 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV. 

which, in general, he has shewn great cri- 
tical judgment ; but proceeding, as all re- 
formers, with rigour, he has, amidst many 
excellent precepts on the subject, laid down 
one rule, which every true poet (and such 
only should attempt to translate a poet) 
must consider as a very prejudicial restraint. 
After judiciously recommending to the 
translator, first to possess himself of the 
sense and meaning of his author, and then 
to imitate his manner and style, he thus pre- 
scribes a general rule, 

Your author always will the best advise ; 
Fall when he falls, and when he rises, rise. 

Far from adopting the former part of 
this maxim, I conceive it to be the duty of 
a poetical translator, never to suffer his ori- 
oinal to fall *. He must maintain with him 



* I am aware, that a sense may be given to this precept 
of Roscommon, which will justify its propriety : " Let the 
" elevation of the copy keep pace with that of the original, 
" where the subject requires elevation of expression : let it 
" imitate it likewise in plainness and simplicity, if such be 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 79 

a perpetual contest of genius ; lie must at- 
tend him in his highest flights, and soar, if 
he can, beyond him : and when he perceives, 
any time, a diminution of his powers, when 
he sees a drooping wing, he must raise him. 
on his own pinions *. Homer has been 
judged by the best critics to fall at times 
beneath himself, and to offend, by introdu- 
cing low images and puerile allusions. Yet 
how admirably is this defect veiled over, 
or altogether removed, by his translator 
Pope. In the beginning of the 8th book 



" the character which the sentiment requires." I have na 
fault to find with the precept, if so qualified. 

* A very ingenious critic, to whom I am indebted for a 
singularly able and candid review of this Essay in the Eu- 
ropean Magazine, for September and October 1793, has cen- 
sured this opinion as allowing to translators a liberty of de- 
parting from that truth and fidelity of representation, which 
it is their first duty rigidly to observe. But in a subsequent 
part of the same criticism, it appears, that this difference of 
opinion is more a seeming than a real opposition of sentiment s 
and I am happy to find the opinion I have advanced on this 
head, sanctioned by so respectable an authority as that of M. 
Delille ; whose translation of the Georgics of Virgil, though 
censurable (as I shall remark) in a few particulars, is, on the 
whole, a very fine performance, " II faut etre quelquefois 



80 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV. 

of the Iliad, Jupiter is introduced in great 
majesty, calling a council of the gods, and 
giving them a solemn charge to observe a 
strict neutrality between the Greeks and 
Trojans : 

Zevg os @£ouy ccyo^rjy < 7roif i o'(x,70 regTizzgavvog, 
'AzooTtzrq zogv^rj '7ro'kvo > ztgccSog OuXvu^oio- 

" Aurora with her saffron robe, had 
u spread returning light upon the world, 
" when Jove delighting-in-thunder sum- 



" sUperieur a son original, precisement parce qu'on lui est 
i c tres-infe-rieur." Delille Disc. Prelim, a la Trad. de$ 
Georgiques. Of the same opinion is the elegant author of 
the poem on Translation : 

Unless an author like a mistress warms, 
How shall we hide his faults, or taste his charms ? 
How all his modest, latent beauties find ; 
How trace each lovelier feature of the mind ; 
Soften each blemish, and each grace improve, 
And treat him with the dignity of love ? 

Francklin, 



CHAP. IT. TRANSLATION. 81 

" moned a council of the gods upon the 
" highest point of the many-headed Olym- 
" pus; and while he thus harangued, all 
" the immortals listened with deep atten- 
" tion," This is a very solemn opening ; 
but the expectation of the reader is mise- 
rably disappointed by the harangue itself, 
of which I shall give a literal translation, 

KexXvrs ftev 9 wkfleg re 9-so/, sraVa/ re %eaimi x 
3 0<pg ana), rk yue Svpog h) sr$ur<ri zeXevei* 
M?jrg rig kv S^Xs/a %eog toys, pyre rig ag<rqv 
Ueigkrcj $ia.Kig<rcLi spov i&og" kXX' kftcc wkfleg 
Aivetr , otygct rky^i^ct reXevrqca rk^e igyct* 
Ov $ kv eyatv knkyev^e %e£v e^eXovloc yofitrat 
'EX&ov?, b Tg&s(r<rtv kgqyepei/, r\ Auvuoto'i, 
UXyjyetg v zc&ra no<rfrov eXev<rera,i OvXvfJLTrovds* 
H puv \"km pi-^co eg Tkgrugov rjegoevlcc, 
T5jfXe fiaXX\ fyi j3k0isov vvo %0ovog est (3ege0gov, 
' Ev§u (ndtjg&tuimzvXut km) y/kXsceog xhog, 
lotrcov evegv aioecj, o<ro)t aguyog is uno youqg* 
Tveiffsr eweiff , orov &fM Sew x&grtfog knkvlav* 
Ei'y ays, TzeigYi<r<x,<r0e Sec), JW elders zzkvleg, 
2s/^y %gv<r&ijv If sgavoOev xge^ktravjeg* 
Tlkvleg y \%k r z\s<j0e &soi, sraVa/ re 0tatwf 
'AXX-tfis kv ft egvcatr sf ig&vo&B* zttdiovi$ 

W 



82 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV* 

'AXA' org 5^ koc) \yoj irgo<pgw i§t\oif&i ig6<r(roti 
Avry ksv ycciri zgvraifA ♦ avrtj re ^cbkcMrtry- 
*£i4grp f/Av zsv iKStra, vsp) piov OvXvfjwow 
AqtraifAtiv' tgc 5s * avre {Aerriogcx, kclwcl yivoiro" 
Tocnrov lyco wept r &tM S"S^v, ^rs|< r etf/J avflg&Tav' 



" Hear me, all ye gods and goddesses, 
" whilst I declare to you the dictates of 
" my inmost heart. Let neither male nor 
" female of the gods attempt to controvert 
" what I shall say ; but let all submissively 
" assent, that I may speedily accomplish my 
" undertakings : for whoever of you shall 
" be found withdrawing to give aid either 
" to the Trojans or Greeks, shall return to 
" Olympus marked with dishonourable 
" wounds : or else I will seize him, and 
" hurl him down to gloomy Tartarus, where 
" there is a deep dungeon under the earth, 
" with gates of iron, and a threshold of 
" brass, as far below hell, as the earth is be- 
" low the heavens. Then he shall know 
" how much stronger I am than all the 
" other gods. But come now, Gods, and make 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 83 

" trial, that ye may all be convinced. Sus- 
" pend a golden chain from heaven, and 
" hang all by one end of it, with your whole 
" weight, gods and goddesses together : you 
" will never pull down from the heaven to 
" the earth, me, Jupiter, the supreme coun- 
" seller, though you should strain with your 
" utmost force. But when I choose to pull, 
" I will raise you all, with the earth and 
" sea together, and fastening the chain to 
" the top of Olympus, will keep you all 
" suspended at it. So much am I superior 
" both to gods and men." 

Or, as the same speech is rendered in a 
similar strain of tame fidelity, w r ith the ad- 
dition only of metrical rhythm, by Cowper : 

Gods ! goddesses ! inhabitants of heaven ! 
Attend ; I make my secret purpose known. 
Let neither god nor goddess interpose 
My counsel to rescinds but with one heart 
Approve it, that it reach at once its end. 
Whom I shall mark soever from the rest 
Withdrawn, that he may Greeks or Trojans aid;, 
Disgrace shall find him ; shamefully chastised 
He shall return to the Olympian height. 
Or I will hurl him deep into the gulphs 

r2 



84 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV. 

Of gloomy Tartarus, where hell shuts fast 
Her iron gates, and spreads her brazen floor, 
As far below the shades, as earth from heaven. 
There shall he learn how far I pass in might 
All others ; which if ye incline to doubt, 
Now prove me. Let ye down the golden chain 
From heaven, and at its nether links pull all, 
Both goddesses and gods. But me your king 
Supreme in wisdom, ye shall never draw 
To earth from heaven, toil adverse as ye may : 
Yet I, when once I shall be pleas'd to pull, 
The earth itself, itself the sea, and you 
Will lift with ease together, and will wind 
The chain around the spiry summit sharp, 
Of the Olympian, that all things upheav'd 
Shall hang in the mid heaven. So far do I 
Compared with all who live, transcend them all. 

It must be owned, that this speech is far 
beneath the dignity of the Thunderer ; that 
the braggart vaunting in the beginning of 
it is nauseous ; and that a mean and ludi- 
crous picture is presented, by the whole 
group of gods and goddesses pulling at one 
end of a chain, and Jupiter at the other. 
To veil these defects in a translation, was 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 85 

difficult * ; but to give any degree of dig- 
nity to this speech, required certainly most 
uncommon powers. Cowper, an excellent 



* Witness the attempt of a translator of no ordinary abi- 
lity. 

Pulchra mari, crocea surgens in veste, per omnes 
Fundebat sese terras Aurora : deorum 
Summo concilium ccelo regnator habebat. 
Cuncta silent : Solio ex alto sic Jupiter orsus. 

Hue aures cuncti, mentesque advertite vestras, 
Dique Deaeque, loquar dum quae fert corde voluntas, 
Dicta probate omnes ; neve hinc praecidere quisquam 
Speret posse aliquid, seu mas seu foemina. Siquis 
Auxilio veniens, dura inter prcelia, Troas 
Juverit, aut Danaos, fcede remeabit Olympum 
Saucius : arreptumve obscura in Tartara longe 
Demittam ipse manu jaciens ; immane barathrum 
Alte ubi sub terram vasto descendit hiatu, 
Orcum infra, quantum jacet infra sidera tellus : 
JEre solum, aeterno ferri stant robore portae. 
Quam cunctis melior sim Die, turn denique discet. 
Quin agite, atque meas jam nunc cognoscite vires, 
Ingentem heic auro e solido religate catenam, 
Deinde manus cuncti validas adhibete, trahentes 
Ad terram : non ulla fuat vis tanta, laborque, 

f3 



86 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. IV. 

poet, it is plain from the foregoing speci- 
men, has failed egregiously. Yet I am 
much mistaken, if Mr Pope has not happi- 
ly succeeded. I shall take the passage from 
the beginning : 

(t Aurora now, fair daughter of the dawn, 
" Sprinkled with rosy light the dewy lawn, 
" When Jove conven'd the senate of the skies, 
" Where high Olympus' cloudy tops arise, 
" The sire of Gods his awful silence broke, 
<c The heavens attentive, trembled as he spoke. 

" Celestial states, immortal gods ! give ear ; 

(t Hear our decree, and reverence what ye hear ; 

" The fix'd decree, which not all heaven can move ; 

ec Thou, fate ! fulfil it ; and, ye powers ! approve ! 

" What God but enters yon forbidden field, 

<( Who yields assistance, or but wills to yield, 

" Back to the skies with shame he shall be driven, 

" Gash'd with dishonest wounds, the scorn of heaven ; 






Ccelesti qui sede Jovem deducere possit. 
Ast ego vos, terramque et magni coerula ponti 
Stagna traham, dextra attollens, et vertice Olympi 
Suspendam : vacuo pendebunt acre cuncta. 
Tantum supra homines mea vis, et numina supra est. 
lUas Lot. vers, express, a Raymundo Cunighio, Rom. 177& 



CHAP* IV. TRANSLATION. 8Y 

{< Or far, oh far, from steep Olympus thrown, 
" Low in the dark Tartarean gulph shall groan ; 
" With burning chains fix'd to the brazen Moors, 
" And lock'd by hell's inexorable doors ; 

* As deep beneath th' infernal centre hurl'd, 

* As from that centre to th' ethereal world. 

** Let him who tempts me dread those dire abodes \ 
" And know th' Almighty is the God of gods. 

* League all your forces then, ye pow'rs above, 
<c Join all, and try th' omnipotence of Jove : 

" Let down our golden everlasting chain, 

" Whose strong embrace holds Heaven, and Earth, and 

" Main: 
f< Strive all, of mortal and immortal birth, 
" To drag by this, the Thunderer down to earth : 
" Ye strive in vain ! If I but stretch this hand, 
" I heave the gods, the ocean and the land ; 

* I fix the chain to great Olympus' height, 

" And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight I 

" For such I reign, unbounded and above ; 

f* And such are men and gods, compar'd to Jove * !" 



f4 



* See a translation of this passage by Hobbes, in the true 
spirit of the Bathos. Appendix, NO. 3, 



88 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV* 

It would be endless to point out all the 
instances in which Mr Pope has improved 
both upon the thought ^nd expression of 
his original. We find frequently in Homer, 
amidst the most striking beauties, some cir- 
cumstances introduced which diminish the 
merit of the thought or of the description. 
In such instances, the good taste of the trans- 
lator invariably covers the defect of the ori- 
ginal, and often converts it into an addition- 
al beauty. Thus, in the simile in the be- 
ginning of the 3d book, there is one cir- 
cumstance which offends against good taste. 

"Eur bgeo? zogv(pjj<r$ Nor©£ zccnytv^v tofjufflriv, 
Tloif/Aariv vt) <piXf)v, zKznrri i\ rs vOxrbg ctfASivd, 
ToWov rtg r iicihiv(F(rih QO'ov ». r <%m "kccav ifjffjv* 
'Sis agu twvtto Trotrtr) zwi<r<ruXog wgvvr oLtXXtjg 

■ ■-•-■■--• m t<\? '■' ' ! . fi ••■■■ ■• A 

" As when the south wind pours a thick 

" cloud upon the tops of the mountains, 

" whose shade is unpleasant to the shep- 

" herds, but ipore^commodious to the thief 

u than the night itself, and when the gloom 
"-' fii i>aiiol 



£HAP. IV* TRANSLATION. 89 

u is so intense, that one cannot see farther 
" than he can throw a stone : So rose the 
" dust under the feet of the Greeks march- 
" ing silently to battle." 

With what superior taste has the trans- 
lator heightened this simile, and exchang- 
ed the offending circumstance for a beauty. 
The fault is in the third line ; tm-o-ov rig r 
liri\eu(r<rei 9 &c. which is a mean idea, com- 
pared with that which Mr Pope has substi- 
tuted in its stead : 

* Thus from his shaggy wings when Eurus sheds 
" A night of vapours round the mountain-heads, 
<c Swift gliding mists the dusky fields invade, 
" To thieves more grateful than the midnight shade; 
" While scarce the swains their feeding flocks survey, 
" Lost and confus'd amidst the thicken'd day : 
" So wrapt in gathering dust the Grecian train, 
u A moving cloud, swept on and hid the plain." 

In the 9th book of the Iliad, v. 484. 
where Phoenix reminds Achilles of the care 
he had taken of him while an infant, one 
circumstance extremely mean, and evert 
disgusting, is found in the original. 



90 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IT. 



'hrs iy\ <tst lp,o7<riv lyca ysvccco'i %a,0iff(ra,s> 



" When I placed you on my knees, I filled 
" you full with meat minced down, and 
" gave you wine, which you often vomited 
<c upon my bosom, and stained my clothes, 
" in your troublesome infancy." The 
English reader certainly feels an obliga- 
tion to the translator for sinking altogether 
this nauseous image, which, instead of heigh- 
tening the picture, greatly debases it : 

Thy infant breast a like affection show'd, 
Still in my arms, an ever pleasing load ; 
Or at my knee, by Phoenix would'st thou stand, 
No food was grateful but from Phoenix hand : 
I pass my watchings o'er thy helpless years, 
The tender labours, the compliant cares *« 

Pope. 



* A similar instance of good taste occurs in the following 
translation of an epigram of Martial* where the indelicacy of 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 91 

But even the highest beauties of the ori- 
ginal receive additional lustre from this ad- 
mirable translator. 



the original is admirably corrected, and the sense at the same 
time is perfectly preserved : 

Vis fieri liber $ mentiris, Maxime, non vis : 

Sedjieri si vis, hac rat'wne potes. 
Liber eris, coenareforis, si, Maxime, nolit : 

Veientana tuam si domat uva sitim : 
Si rider e potes miseri Chrysendcta Chinos : 

Content us nostra si potes esse toga. 
Si plebeia Venus gemino tibi vincitur asse: 

Si tua non rectus tecta subire potes : 
Hcec tibi si vis est, si mentis tanta potestas, 

Liberior Partho vivere rege potes. 

Mart. lib. 2. ep. 53. 

Non, d'etre libre, cher Paulin, 
Vous n'avez jamais eu l'envie ; 
Entre nous, votre train de vie 
N'en est point du tout le chemin. 

II vous faut grand'ehere, bon vin, 
Grand jeu, nombreuse campagnie, 
Maitresse fringante et jolie, 
Et robe du drap le plus fin. 



92 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV. 

A striking example of this kind has been 
remarked by Mr Melmoth *. It is the 
translation of thai picture in the end of the 
8th book of the Iliad, which Eustathius 
esteemed the finest night-piece that could 
be found in poetry : 

*£lg y or \v igoLvoo cicrga (pa&ivYiv kptyt <rs\f)V)]v, 
<Puiver agiKgeirzot,, ors r tv'hiro vr^zyuoc aiSyg, 
*JLz. r 'ityotvov natron rxoKta,} seen irgeuopeg azgoi f 
Ka/ paxa/ zgavovev ocg vveppwyri atrnsrog ctiiJ7}g 9 
Tluvla hi r Stferou ocfga' yiyr^i 3s rt (pgsvoc woiu'/iv' 

" As when in the heavens the stars appear 
<c gracefully around the moon, when eve- 
ct ry breath of air is hush'd ; when the high 
44 watch-towers, the hills, and woods, are 
" distinctly seen ; when the sky appears 



II faudroit aimer, au contraire, 
Vin commun, petit ordinaire, 
Habit simple, un ou deux amis ; 
Jamais de jeii, point d'Amarante : 
Voyez si le parti vous tente, 
La liberte n est qu' a ce prix. 

* Fitzosborne's Letters, I. 19. 






CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 93 

" to op£n to the sight, and every eon- 
u stellation is visible, and when the shep- 
" herd's heart is delighted within him." 
This is beautiful, even in the most literal 
prose; but how nobly is the picture raised 
and improved by Mr Pope ! 

" As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, 

<e Oer heavns clear azure spreads her sacred light; 

<( When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, 

" And not a cloud dercasts the solemn scene; 

" Around her throne the vivid planets roll, 

" And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole : 

" O er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, 

<c And tip with silver every mountain's head: 

" Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise^ 

" A flood of glory bursts from all the skies: 

ce The conscious swains rejoicing in the sight, 

** Eye the blue vaidt, and bless the useful light ** 



* Thus likewise translated with great beauty of poetry, 
end sufficient fidelity to the original. 

Ut lunam circa fulgent cum lucida pulchro 
Astra choro, nusquam ccelo dum nubila, nusquam 
Aerios turbant ventorum flamina campos ; 
Apparent speculae, nemoroso et vertice montes 



94 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. IV. 

These passages from Pope's Homer af- 
ford examples of a translator's improvement 
of his original, by a happy amplification and 
embellishment of his imagery, or by the ju- 
dicious correction of defects ; but to fix the 
precise degree to which this amplification, 
this embellishment, and this liberty of cor- 
rection, may extend, requires a great exer- 
tion of judgment. It may be useful to re- 
mark some instances of the want of this 
judgment. 

It is always a fault when the translator 
adds to the sentiment of the original au- 
thor, what does not strictly accord with his 
characteristic mode of thinking, or expres- 
sing himself. 



Frondiferi et saltus ; late se fulgidus gether 
Pandit in immensum, penitusque abstrusa remoto 
Signa polo produnt longe sese omnia ; gaudet 
Visa tuens, haeretque immoto lumine pastor. 

Was Lat. vers, a Raym. Cimighio, Rom. 1 776. 



CHAP* IV* TRANSLATION. 95 

Pone sub curru nimium propinqui 
Solis, in terra domibus negata ; 
Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo, 
Dulce loquentem. 

Hob. Qd. 22, 1 I. 

Thus translated by Roscommon ; 

The burning zone, the frozen isles, 
Shall hear me sing of Celia's smiles ; 
All cold, but in her breast, I will despise, 
And dare all heat, but that in Celia's eyes. 

The witty ideas in the two last lines are 
foreign to the original ; and the addition of 
these is quite unjustifiable, as they belong 
to a quaint species of wit, of which the wri- 
tings of Horace afford no example. 

Equally faulty, therefore, is Cowley's 
translation of a passage in the Ode to- 
Pyrrha : 

Qui semper vacuam, semper amabilem 
Sperat, nescius aurae fallacis. ■■ 

He sees thee gentle, fair, and gay, 

And trusts the faithless April of thy May. 



96 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV. 

As is the same author's version of that 
passage, which is characterised by its beau- 
tiful simplicity : 



somnus agrestium 



Lenis virorum non humiles domos 
Fastidit, umbrosamque ripam 
Non zephyris agitata Tempe. 



Hon. 3. I* 






Sleep is a god, too proud to wait on palaces, 

And yet so humble too, as not to scorn 
The meanest country eottages ; 

This poppy grows among the corn. 
The halcyon Sleep will never build his nest 

In any stormy breast : 
*Tis not enough that he does find 
Clouds and darkness in their mind ; 
Darkness but half his work will do, 
*Tis not enough ; he must find quiet too. 

Here is a profusion of wit, and poetic 
imagery ; but the whole is quite opposite to 
the character of the original. 

Congreve is guilty of a similar impro- 
priety in translating. 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 9t 

Vides, ut alta stet nive candidurri 

Soracte : nee jam sustineant onus 

Sylvae laborantes* 

Hor. i. 9* 

Bless me, 'tis cold ! how chill the air ! 
How naked does the world appear ! 
Behold the mountain tops around, 
As if with fur of ermine crown'd : 

And lo ! how by degrees, 
The universal mantle hides the trees, 

In hoary flakes which downward fly, 
As if it were the autumn of the sky, 

Whose fall of leaf would theirs supply : 
Trembling, the groves sustain the weight, and bow> 

Like aged limbs which feebly go, 
Beneath a venerable head of snow. 

No author of real genius is more censur- 
able on this score than Dryden. 

Obsidere alii telis angusta viarum 
Oppositi : stat ferri acies mucrone coruscO 
Stricta parata neci. 

JEnei$,u. S22s 

Thus translated by Dryden : 

a 



98 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. IV. 



To several posts their parties they divide, 

Some block the narrow streets, some scour the wide :. 

The bold they kill, th' unwary they surprise,; 

Who fights finds death, and death finds him who flies. 

Of these four lines, there are scarcely 
more than four words which are warranted 
by the original. " Some block the narrow 
" streets." Even this is a faulty transla- 
tion of Obsklere alii telis angusta viarurn ; 
but it fails on the score of mutilation, not 
redundancy. The rest of the ideas which 
compose these four lines, are the original 
property of the translator ; and the antithe- 
tical witticism in the concluding line, is 
far beneath the chaste simplicity of Vir- 
gil. 

The same author, Virgil, in describing a 
pestilential disorder among the cattle, gives 
the following beautiful picture, which, as 
an ingenious writer justly remarks *, has 
every excellence that can belong to descrip- 
tive poetry : 



* Dr Beattie's Dissertation on Poetry and Music, p. 357.- 
4to. edit. 



GHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 99 

Ecce autem duro fumans sub vomere taums 
Cqncidit, et mixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem, 
Extremosque ciet gemitus. It tristis arator, 
Moerentem abjungens fraterna morte juvencum, 
Atque opere in medio defixa relinquit aratra. 

Which Mr Dryden thus translates : 

The steer who to the yoke was bred to bow, 
(Studious of tillage and the crooked plow), 
Falls down and dies ; and dying, spews a flood 
Of foamy madness, mix'd with clotted blood. 
The clown, who, cursing Providence, repines, 
His mournful fellow from the team disjoins ; 
With many a groan forsakes his fruitless care, 
And in the unfinish'd furrow leaves the share, 

" I would appeal to the reader," says Dr 
Beattie, " whether, by debasing the charm- 
" ing simplicity of It tristis arator with his 
" blasphemous paraphrase, Dryden has not 
" destroyed the beauty of the passage." He 
has undoubtedly, even although the trans- 
lation had been otherwise faultless. But it 
is very far from being so. Duro fumans sab 
vomere, is not translated at all, and another 
idea is put in its place. Extremosque ciet 

q2 



100 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. IV. 



gemitus, a most striking part of the descrip- 
tion, is likewise entirely omitted. " Spews 
a flood," is vulgar and nauseous ; and " a 
flood of foamy madness" is nonsense. In 
short, the whole passage in the translation 
is a mass of error and impropriety *. 



u 



u 



The simple expression, Jam Procyonfurit, 
in Horace, 3. 29. is thus translated by the 
same author : 

The Syrian star 

Barks from afar, 

And with his sultry breath infects the sky^ 



* A late translator of the Georgics thus renders the pas- 
sage with equal fidelity and good taste : 

At once the bullock falls beneath the yoke, 
Blood and mixt foam beneath his nostrils smoke : 
He groans his last : the melancholy swain 
Leaves the fixt plough amid th' unfurrow'd plain, 
And frees the lonely steer, whose mournful eye 
Beholds with fond regret a brother die. 

The Georgics of Virgil transL by W. Sotheby. 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 101 

This barking of a star is a bad specimen 
of the music of the spheres. Dry den, from 
the fervour of his imagination, and the ra- 
pidity with which he composed, is frequent- 
ly guilty of similar impropriety in his meta- 
phorical language. Thus, in his version of 
Du Fresnoy, de Arte Grapkica, he trans- 
lates 

Indolis ut vigor inde potens obstrictus hebescatj 

" Neither would I extinguish the fire of a 
** vein which is lively and abundant." 

The following passage in the second 
Georgic, as translated by Delille, is an ex- 
ample of vitious taste : 

Ac, dum prima novis adolescit frondibus aetas, 
Parcendum teneris : et dum se laetus ad auras 
Palmes agit, laxis per purum immissus habenis, 
Ipsa acies nondum falce tentanda.— - 

Quand ses premiers bourgeons s'empresseront declore* 
Que lacier rigoureux n'y touche point encore ; 
Meme lorsque dans 1'air, qu'il commence a braver, 
Le rejetton moins frele ose enfin s'elever ; 
JPardonne a son audace en faveur de son age.— 

g3 



102 



PRINCIPLES OP 



CHAP, rv 



The expression of the original is bold 

and figurative, Icetus ad auras, laxis per 

pur urn immissus habenis ; but there is no- 
thing that offends the chastest taste. The 
concluding line of the translation is dis- 
gustingly finical, 

Vardonne a son audace enfaveur de son age. 

Mr Pope's translation of the following 
passage of the Iliad, is censurable on a si- 
milar account : 

Aaoi {JAv (pdivvSaci vregi ftrohiv, clIttv tb rei%og 9 
mccgvctf/j&vor 

Iliad, 6. 327- 

For thee great Ilion's guardian heroes fall, 
Till heaps of dead alone defend the wall. 

Of this conceit, of dead men defending 
the walls of Troy, Mr Pope has the sole 
merit. The original, with grave simplicity, 
declares, that the people fell, fighting before 
the town, and around the walls *. 



* Fitzosborne's Letters, 43. 



CHAP. IV, TRANSLATION. 108 

In the translation of the two following 
lines from Ovid's Epistle of Sappho to 
Phaon, the same author has added a witti- 
cism, which is less reprehensible, because it 
accords with the usual manner of the poet 
whom he translates ; yet it cannot be term- 
ed an improvement of the original : 

" Scribimus, et lachrymis oculi rorantur aborti:^ 
" Aspice, quam sit in hoc multa litura loco." 

See, while I write, my words are lost in tears, 
The less my sense, the more my love appears. 

Pope. 

The favourite English anacreontic " Bu- 
" s?/, curious, thirsty FhjT is thus translated 
in the Carmina QuadragesimaUo, vol. ii. ; a 
collection which contains some pieces of 
high merit. 

Picta auro, et nitidis variata coloribus alas, 

Musca, veni nostris hospes arnica scyphis. 
Hospes eris, madidae seu te moderatior uvae 

Haustus, seii recreet plenior, hospes eris. 
Indulge geniali horae, facilique Lyaeo, 

Dum s^evum Lachesis tarda moratur opus. 

©4 



104 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. IV. 



Nam tua, devolvi prseceps, brevis interit aetas, 

Et nostra est parili prsecipitata fuga. 
Non tamen est sortem cur indignemur iniquam, 

Virgilius periit, Virgiliique culex *. 

In this version, which is not without me- 
rit, the superadded illustration in the last 
line, flowing naturally from the sentiment of 
the original, is no more than what is al- 
lowable in poetical translation ; but I doubt 
if it is an improvement. Sure I am, at 
least, that Dum scevum Lachesis tarda mo- 
ratur opus, though likewise consonant to the 
sentiment of the original, has no propriety 



* Busy, curious, thirsty fly, 

Drink with me, and drink as I ; 
Freely welcome to my cup, 
Couldst thou sip, and sip it up ; 
Make the most of life you may ; 
Life is short, and wears away : 

Both alike, both thine and mine, 
Hasten quick to their decline ; 
Thine's a summer, mine's no more, 
Though repeated to threescore : 
Threescore summers, when they're gone 
Will appear as short, as one. 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 105 

when applied to the short life of a fly. In 
the version of the same anacreontic by 
Vincent Bourne, the translator, with better 
taste, has adhered to the chastened simpli- 
city of the original, without any attempt at 
embellishment : 

Potare., musca, de meo aut quovis scypho, 
Vocata, non vocata, praesens advena ; 
Lubens, libensque curiosam exple sitim, 
Siccare totum, si valebis poculum : 
iEvi fugacis punctulum carpe, arripe ; 
JEvi, quod interire pergit indies. 

Utriusque vita properat, et tua et mea^ 
Ad exitum cursu incitato vergere ; 
JEstas tuae, nee amplius spatium est mea?^ 
Ad bis tricenas usque si redit vices : 
Cum praeteribit bis tricena, sicuti 
Unius aestatis videbitur fuga. 

But if authors, even of taste and genius, 
be found at times to have made an injudi- 
cious use of that liberty which is allowed 
in the translation of poetry, we must expect 
to see it miserably abused indeed, where 
those talents are evidently wanting. The 
following specimen of a Latin version of 
the Paradise Lo$t y is an example of every 



106 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IV. 

thing that is vitioiis and offensive in poeti- 
cal translation. 

Primaevi ca.no furta patris, furtumque secutae 

Tristiafata necis, labes ubi prima notavit 

Quotquot Adamaeo genitos de sanguine vidit 

Phoebus ad Hesperias ab Eoo cardine met as ; 

Quos procul auricomis Paradisi depulit hortis. 

Dira cupido attavura, raptique injuria pomi : 

Terrigena donee meliorque et major Adamus> 

Amissis meliora bonis, majora reduxit. 

Quosque dedit morti lignum inviolabile, mortis 

Unicus ille alio rapuit de limine ligno. 

Terrenusque licet pereat Paradisus, at ejus 

Munere laxa patet Paradisi porta superni : 

Haec oestro stimulata novo mens pandere gestit. 

Quis mihi monstret iter ? Quis carbasa nostra profundo 

Dirigat in dubio ? 

Gul. Hog.ei Paradisus Amissus, I. L 

How completely is Milton disguised in 
this translation ! His majesty exchanged 
for meanness, and his simplicity for bom- 
bast *. 



* It is amusing to observe the conceit of this author, and 
the compliment he imagines he pays to the taste of his pa- 
tron in applauding this miserable composition ; " Adeo - tibi 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 107 



The preceding observations, though they 
principally regard the first general rule of 
translation, viz. that which enjoins a com- 
plete transfusion of the ideas and senti- 
ments of the original work, have likewise a 
near connection with the second general 
rule, which I shall now proceed to consider. 



** placuit, lit quaedam etiam in melius mutasse tibi visus fue* 
" rim." With similar arrogance and absurdity, he gives Milton 
credit for the materials only of the poem., assuming to him- 
-self the whole merit of its structure : " Miltonus Paradisum 
" Amissum invenerat; ergo Miltoni hie lana estj at mea 
*" tela tamen/ J 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 109 



CHAR V. 

Second General Rule : The Style and Man* 
ner of writing in a Translation should be 
of the same Character with that of the Ori- 
ginaL — •Translations of the Scriptures ; — 
Of Homer, &c. ; — A just Taste requisite 

for the Discernment of the Characters of 
Style and Manner. — Examples of failure 
in this particular ; — The grave exchanged 

for the formal ; — The elevated for the bom- 
bast ; — The lively for the petulant ; — The 
simple for the childish. Hobbes, L J Es- 
trange, Echard, &c. 

Next in importance to a faithful transfu- 
sion of the sense and meaning of an author, 
is an assimilation of the style and manner 
of writing in the translation to that of the 
original. This requisite of a good transla- 



110 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 

tion, though but secondary in importance, 
is more difficult to be attained than the for- 
mer ; for the qualities requisite for justly 
discerning and happily imitating the various 
characters of style and manner, are much 
more rare than the ability of simply under- 
standing an author's sense. A good trans- 
lator must be able to discover at once the 
true character of his author's style. He must 
ascertain with precision to what class it be- 
longs ; whether to that of the grave, the 
elevated, the easy, the lively, the florid and 
ornamented, or the simple and unaffected ; 
and these characteristic qualities he must 
have the capacity of rendering equally con- 
spicuous in the translation as in the origi- 
nal. If a translator fail in this discern- 
ment, and want this capacity, let him be 
ever so thoroughly master of the sense of 
his author, he will present him through a 
distorting medium, or exhibit him often in 
a garb that is unsuitable to his character. 

The chief characteristic of the historical 
style of the Sacred Scriptures, is its simpli- 
city. This character belongs indeed to the 



CHAP. V. 



TRANSLATION. Ill 



language itself. Dr Campbell has justly re- 
marked, that the Hebrew is a simple tongue; 
that " their verbs have not, like the 
" Greek and Latin, a variety of moods and 
" tenses, nor do they, like the modern lan- 
" g ua g es 5 abound in auxiliaries and con- 
u junctions. The consequence is, that in 
" narrative, they express by several simple 
" sentences, much in the way of the re- 
" lations used in conversation, what in 
" most other languages would be compre- 
a hended in one complex sentence of three 
" or four members *." The same author 
gives, as an example of this simplicity, the 
beginning of the first chapter of Gene- 
sis, where the account of the operations 
of the Creator on the first day is contained 
in eleven separate sentences. " 1. In the 
* beginning God created the Heaven and 
" the Earth. 2. And the earth was without 
" form, and void. 3. And darkness was 
" upon the face of the deep. 4. And the 
" spirit of God moved upon the face of the 
" waters. 5. And God said, let there be 



* Third Preliminary Dissertation to a New Translation of 
the Four Gospels. 



112 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 

" light. 6. And there was light. 7. And 
" God saw the light, that it was good. 8* 
" And God divided the light from the 
" darkness. 9. And God called the light 
" day. 10. And the darkness he called 
" night. 11. And the evening and the 
" morning were the first day." " This," 
says Dr Campbell, " is a just representa- 
" tion of the style of the original. A more 
" perfect example of simplicity of struc- 
" ture, we can no where find. The sen- 
" tences are simple, the substantives are not 
" attended by adjectives, nor the verbs by 
" adverbs ; no synonymas, no superlatives, 
" no effort at expressing things in a bold, 
" emphatical, or uncommon manner*" 

Castalio's version of the Scriptures is 
entitled to the praise of elegant Latinity, 
and he is in general faithful to the sense of 
his original ; but he has totally departed 
from its style and manner, by substituting 
the complex and florid composition to the 
simple and unadorned. His sentences are 
formed in long and intricate periods, in 
which many separate members are artfully 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 113 

combined ; and we observe a constant en- 
deavour at a classical phraseology and or- 
namented diction *. In Castalio's ver- 
sion of the foregoing passage of Genesis^ 
nine sentences of the original are thrown 
into one period. 1. Principio creavit Deus 
ccelum et terrain* % Quum autem csset ter- 
ra iners at que rudis, tenebrisque effusum 
profundum, et divinus spiritus sese super a- 
quas libraret) jussit Deus ut exist eret lux, 
et extitit lux ; qtiaiii quum videret Deus 
esse bonam, lueem secrevit a tenebris, et lu- 
cent diem, et tenebras noctem appellaviti 
3. ltd extitit ex vcspere et mane dies primuSi 

H 



* " His affectation of the manner of some of the poets 
" and orators has metamorphosed the authors he interpreted, 
*l and stript them of the venerable signatures of antiquity, 
ic which so admirably befit them ; and which, serving as in- 
" trinsic evidence of their authenticity, recommend their 1 
tc writings to the serious and judicious. Whereas, when ac- 
ie coutred in this new fashion, no body would imagine them 
" to have been Hebrews ; and yet ; (as some critics have justly 
u remarked), it has not been within the compass of Castalio's 
u art, to make them look like Romans." Dr Campbell^ 
tOth Prelim. Diss. 



114 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 

Dr Beattie has justly remarked, that the 
translation of the Old Testament by Cas- 
talio does great honour to that author's 
learning, but not to his taste. u The quaint- 
" ness of his Latin betrays a deplorable in- 
u attention to the simple majesty of his 
" original. In the Song of Solomon, he 
" has debased the magnificence of the lan- 
" guage and subject by diminutive f$ which, 
" though expressive of familiar endearment, 
" he should have known to be destitute of 
" dignity, and therefore improper on so- 
" lemn occasions." — " Mea Columbula, os- 
*' tende mihi tuurn vulticulum ; fac nt au- 
" diam tuarn voculam ; nam et voculam ve- 
** nustulam, et vulticulum habes lepidulum, — 
11 Vent in meos hortulos, sororcula mea spon- 
" sa. — Ego dormioi vigilante meo corcu- 
" lo * " &c. 

The version of the Scriptures by Arias 
Montanus, is in some respects a contrast to 
that of Castalio. Arias, by adopting the li- 



• Essay on, Laughter and Ludicrous Composition. 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 115 

teral mode of translation, probably intend- 
ed to give as faithful a picture as he could, 
both of the sense and manner of the ori- 
ginal. Not considering the different genius 
of the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Latin, 
in the various meaning and import of words 
of the same primary sense ; the difference 
of combination and construction, and the 
peculiarity of idioms belonging to each 
tongue ; he has treated the three languages 
as if they corresponded perfectly in all those 
particulars ; and the consequence is, he has 
produced a composition which fails in every 
one requisite of a good translation : it con-< 
veys neither the sense of the original, nor 
its manner and style ; and it abounds in 
barbarisms, solecisms, and grammatical in- 
accuracy *. In Latin, two negatives make 
an affirmative ; but it is otherwise in Greek, 
they only give force to the negation f : %u%i§ 

h2 



* Dr Campbell, 10th Prel. Diss, part 2. 

t The Greek language even admits of three negatives, with 
similar effect in strengthening the negation,, as Qvdag a*«vf* 
4vah ovJwec. 



116 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. V. 



Ifjcn ov hwuefa iroteiv vfev, as translated by Arias, 
sine me non potestis facer e nihil, is therefore 
directly contrary to the sense of the original : 
And surely that translator cannot be said 
either to do justice to the manner and style 
of his author, or to write with the ease of 
original composition, who, instead of per-' 
spicuous thought, expressed in pure, correct, 
and easy phraseology, gives us obscure and 
unintelligible sentiments, conveyed in bar^ 
barous terms and constructions, irreconcile- 
able to the rules of the language in which 
he uses them. Et nunc dixi vobis antejieri y 
ut quum factum fuerit credatis. — *Ascendit 
autem et Joseph a Galilcea in civitatem Da- 
vid, propter esse ipsum ex domo et familia 
David, describi cum Maria desponsata sibi 
uxore, existente prcegriante* Factum autem 
in esse eos ibi f impleti sunt dies par ere ip- 
sam. — Venerunt ad portam, qua spontanea 
aperta est eis, et exeunt es processerunt vicum. 
— Nunquid aquam prohibere potest quis ad 
non baptizare hos ? — Sped at descendens su- 
per se vas quoddam linteum f quatuor initiis 



CHAP. IV. TRANSLATION. 117 

vinctum, — Aperiens autem Petrns os, dixit : 
In xeritate deprehendo quia non est persona-* 
rum acceptor Deus *, 

The characteristic of the language of Ho- 
mer is strength united with simplicity. He 
employs frequent images, allusions, and si- 
miles ; but he very rarely uses metaphorical 
expression. The use of this style, there- 
fore, in a translation of Homer, is an offence 
against the character of the original. Mr 
Pope, though not often, is sometimes char- 

h3 



* The language of that ludicrous work, Epistolce obscuro- 
rum virorum, is an imitation, and by no means an exaggera^ 
ted picture of the style of Arias Montanuss version of the 
Scriptures. Vos bene audivistis qualiter Papa habuit unum 
magnum animal quod vocatumfuit Elephas ; et habuit ipsum 
in magno konorc, et valde amavit Mud. Nunc igitur debetis 
scire, quod tale animal est mortuum. Et quandofuit irifir* 
mum, tunc Papa fuit in magna tristitia, et vocavit medicos 
plureSy et dixit eis : Si est possibile, satiate mihi Elephas* 
Tunc fecerunt magnam diligentiam, et viderunl ei urinam, et 
dederunt ei unam purgationem quae constat quinque centum 
aureos, sed tameti non potuerunt Elephas facere merdare 3 et 
sic est mortuum ; et Papa dolet multum super Elephas ; quia 
fuit mirabile animal, habens longum rostrum in magna quart* 
tilate. — Ast ego non curabo ista mundana negotia t quae afft* 
Tur\t perditiqnem (mimce* Valete* 



118 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 

geable with this fault ; as where he terms the 
arrows of Apollo " the feather' d fates," Iliad, 
1. 68., a quiver of arrows, " a store of 
u flying fates," Odyssey, 22. 136: or instead 
of saying, that the soil is fertile in corn, u in 
" wavy gold the summer vales are dress'd," 
Odyssey, 19. 131 * ; the soldier wept, " from 
" his ey£s pour'd down the tender dew." 
Ibid. 11. 486. 

Virgil, in describing the shipwreck of 
the Trojans, says, 

Apparent rari nanies in gurgite vasto ; 

Which the Abbe des Fontaines thus trans- 
lates : " A peine un petit nombre de ceux qui 
" montoient le vaisseau purent se sauver a 
u la nage.^ Of this translation Voltaire 
justly remarks, " C'est traduire Virgile 
u en style de gazette. Ou est ce vaste 



'* It is well known, that the greater part of the Odyssey 
Was not translated by Pope himself, but by some assistants, 
whom he employed and paid for their labours ; but having 
revised the whole, and published the work under his own 
Bame, he is justly responsible for all its faults. 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 119 

" gouffre que peint le po6te, gurgite vasto ? 
" Oh est V apparent rati nantesP Ce n'est 
" pas ainsi qu'on doit traduire l'Eneide." 
Voltaire, Quest, sur VEncyclop. mot Ampli- 
fication* 

If we are thus justly offended at hearing 
Virgil speak in the style of the Evening Post 
or the Daily Advertiser, what must we 
think of the translator, who makes the so- 
lemn and sententious Tacitus express him- 
self in the low cant of the streets, or in the 
dialect of the waiters of a tavern ? 

Facile Asiniwn et Messalam inter Anto- 
nium et Augustum belhrum prcemiis refertos : 
Thus translated in a version of Tacitus by 
Mr Dryden and several eminent hands : 
" Asinius and Messala, who feathered their 
u nests well in the civil wars 'twixt Antho- 
" ny and Augustus/' Vinolentiam et libi- 
dines usurpans : u Playing the good-fellow." 
Frustra Arminium prmcribi : " Trumping 
u up Arminius's title." Sed Agrippina //- 
bertam cemulam, nurum >ncillam, ali que eun- 
dem in modum muliebri.er fremere : " But 
h4 



120 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 

" Agrippina could not bear that a freed- 
" woman should nose her." And another 
translator says, " But Agrippina could not 
" bear that a freedwoman should beard her." 
Of a similar character with this translation 
of Tacitus is a translation of Suetonius by 
several gentlemen of Oxford *, which a- 
bounds with such elegancies as the follow- 
ing : Sestio Gallo, libidinoso et prodigo sent : 
** Sestius Gallus, a most notorious old Sir 
* c Jolly." J ucundissimos et omnium horarum 
amicos ; " His boon companions and sure 
" cards." Nullam unquam occasion em de- 
dit : " They never could pick the least hole 
" in his coat." — So likewise in a translation 
of Livy, Samnites pro aris et focis pitgna- 
bant : " The Samnites fought for church and 
" chimney, as the saying is." — And with 
equal elegance, Quidam Lncanorum pretio 
ascitic clari magis quam honesti, quum cor- 
pora nuda infolisseni, &c : "The Lucani- 
" ans, a parcel of rapscallions, ran away in 
$ querpo." 



* London, l6$L 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 121 

Juno's apostrophe to Troy, in her speech 
to the Gods in council, is thus translated in 
a version of Horace by " The Most Emi- 
* nent hands." 



•Ilion, Ilion, 



Fatalis incestusqiie judex, S?c. 

Hon. 3. 3, 



O Ilion, Ilipn, I with transport view 
The fall of all thy wicked, perjur'd crew ! 
Pallas and I have borne a rdnJtUhs grudge 
To that curst Shepherd, that incestuous judge. 

In the following passage of Juvenal's tenth 
Satire, the striking moral of the thought is 
most happily aided by the language in 
which it is clothed : 



— — nulla aconita bibuntur 

Fictilibus ; tunc ilia times, quum pocula sumes 
Gemmata, et lato Setinum ardebit in auro. 

But how miserably is the sentiment deba-* 
sed by the expression in a modern transla- 
tion : 



122 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 



-yet no poisonous drug 



Was ever swallow'd from an earthen mug : 
When rich wine sparkles in the bowl superb, 
With gold and gems, then fear the deadly herb. 

Owen's Juvenal. 

The description of the majesty of Jupiter, 
contained in the following passage of the 
first book of the Iliad, is allowed to be a 
true specimen of the sublime. It is the 
archetype from which Phidias acknowledged 
he had framed his divine sculpture of the 
Olympian Jupiter : 

9 Afbfig6<ria,i 3' cLgci yjuru.1 lirepputroivro avoixrog, 
Kgoirog h* ccduvaroio, t/Ayuv J'sAsX/f sj> 'OXvpirov 

He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows, 
Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod, 
The stamp of fate, and sanction of the God : 
High heav'n, with trembling, the dread signal took, 
And all Olympus to its centre shook. 

Pope. 

Certainly Mr Hobbes of Malmsbury 
perceived no portion of that sublime which 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 123 

was felt by Phidias and by Pope, when he 
could thus translate this fine description : 

This said, with his black brows he to her nodded,, 
Wherewith displayed were his locks divine ; 

Olympus shook at stirring of his godhead, 
And Thetis from it jump'd into the brine. 

In the translation of the Georgics, Mr 
Dryden has displayed great powers of 
poetry. But Dryden had little relish for 
the pathetic, and no comprehension of the 
natural language of the heart. The beauti- 
ful simplicity of the following passage has 
entirely escaped his observation, and he 
has been utterly insensible to its tender- 
ness : 

Ipse cavd solans ozgrum iestudine amorem, 
Te, dulcis conjux, te solo in littore secum, 
Te veniente die, te decedente canebat. 

Virg. Geor. 4 



Th* unhappy husband, husband now no more, 

Did on his tuneful harp his loss deplore, 

And sought his mournful mind with music to restore 



.1 



124 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 



On thee, dear Wife, in deserts all alone, 

He call'd, sigh'd, sung > his griefs with day begun, 

Nor were they finished with the setting sun. 



5 



The three verbs, calVd sigjfd, sung, are 
here substituted, with peculiar infelicity, 
for the repetition of the pronoun ; a change 
which converts the pathetic into the ludi- 
crous. 

In the same episode, the poet compares 
the complaint of Orpheus to the wailing of 
a nightingale, robb'd of her young, in those 
well known beautiful verses : 

Quails populea mcerens Philomela sub umbra 
Amissos qveritur foetus, quos durus arator 
Observans nido implumes, detraxit : at ilia 
Flet noctem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen 
fntegrat, et mcestis late loca questibus implet. 

Thus translated by Dry den : 

So, close in poplar shades, her children gone, 
The mother nightingale laments alone ; 
Whose nest some prying churl had found, and thence 
By stealth, convey'd the feather'd innocence j 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 125 

But she supplies the night with mournful strains^ 
And melancholy music fills the plains. 

How poor is this translation when com- 
pared with its original ; yet, on the whole, 
less censurable than the following version by 
a French poet of high reputation : 

Telle sur im rameau durant la nuit obscure 
Philomele plaintive attendrit la nature, 
Accuse en gemissant l'oiseleur inhumain, 
Qui, glissant dans son nid line furtive main; 
Ravit ces tendres fruits que l'amour fit ecldrre, 
Et qu'un leger duvet ne couvroit pas encore. 

Delille, Georg. de Virg. 

It is evident, that there is a complete 
evaporation of the beauties of the original 
in this translation : and the reason is, that 
the French poet has substituted sentiments 
for facts, and refinement for the simple pa- 
thetic. The nightingale of Delille melts all 
nature with her complaint ; accuses with he? 
sighs the inhuman fowler, who glides his 
thievish hand into her nest, and plunders 
the tender fruits that were hatched by love ! 
How different this sentimental foppery from 



126 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 

the chaste simplicity of Virgil ! — We per- 
ceive a similar vein of affected sentiment in 
the translation of the Paradise Lost by the 
same author : 

So spake our general mother ; and with eyes 
Of conjugal affection unreprov'd 
And meek surrender, half embracing, lean'd 
On our first father ; half her swelling breast 
Naked met his, under the flowing gold 
Of her loose tresses hid; he in delight 
Both of her beauty and submissive charms, 
Smil'd with superior love. 

Sur Adam a ces mots, ctun air affectueux 

Ellejette un regard chaste et voluptueux, 

Tel quen permet V Hymen, tel qit amour en inspire : 

ILe ciel qui la forma se peint dans son sourire. 

Le cceuf sur son epoux doucement appuye, 

Ses bras respectueux Ventourent a moitie ; 

Et voilani a demi ce sein qu'il idolatre 

Ses cheveux d'orjlottoient, sur sa gorge d'albdtre, 

Adam reste muet, il admire tout has 

Un amour si soumis, de si chastes appas ; 

Et ses yeux rasmrant la beaute qui I'embrasse 

Peigne?it la Majesti souriant a la grace. 

Parad. Perd. I. iv. 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 127 

In the beautiful story of Pyramus and 
Thisbe, Ovid describes in a single couplet, 
the death of Pyramus, in terms of the most 
affecting simplicity : 

Ad nomen Thisbes, oculos jam morte gravatos 
Pyramus erexit, visaque recondidit ilia, 

A French author of some reputation, 
has thus rendered the passage, accommoda- 
ting it to the taste of his age and country : 

C'est Pyrame ! c'est lui ! dormiroit-il, grands Dieux 1 
Pyrame ! a cette voix Pyrame ouvre les yeux : 
(< Je croyois qu'aux enfers tu venois de descendre, 
ec Et que tu m'attendais — c'est moi qui vais t'attendre." 
II dit. — Son ceil couvert du voile de la moit, 
Cherche Thisbe dans l'ombre, et la trouvant encor, 
Avec un doux effort longtems fixe sur elie, 
Se renferme et s'eteint dans la nuit eternelle. 

Lettres a Emilk par Demqutier. 

We may affirm for certain, that the wri- 
ter who could depart thus widely from the 
character of his original, had not the smalL 
est feeling of that beautiful simplicity which 
characterizes it, 



128 PltlNCiPLES OF CHAP. V. 

The following passage in the 6th book 
of the Iliad has not been happily translated 
by Mr Pope. It is in the parting inter- 
view between Hector and Andromache* 



Qg slvaffj c&Xoy/oio <pi\r,g iv yj^friv 'iflqice 

UuiO IW 7} y (Loci fJLiV KT,Culii M^CITO KGhTT&l) 

Auzgvozv yO^ci/TUfTcx,' 'Frocig J' Ixiqtri vor i o'ctc, 

He spoke, and fondly gazing on her charms, 
Restor'd the pleasing burden to her arms ; 
Soft on her fragrant breast the babe she laid, 
Hush'd to repose, and with a smile survey'd. 
The troubled pleasure soon chastis'd by fear, 
She mingled with the smile a tender tear. 
The soften'd chief with kind compassion view'd, 
And dried the falling drops, and thus pursu'd. 

This, it must be allowed, is good poetry $ 
but it wants the affecting simplicity of the 
original. Fondly gazing on her charms — 
pleasing burden — The troubled pleasure soon 
chastised by fear, are injudicious embellish* 
nients. The beautiful expression Auzgooe* 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION* 129 

<ysXa<r<x,<ra is enfeebled by amplification ; and 
the fine circumstance, which so much heigh- 
tens the tenderness of the picture, Xe/g* ri 
piv zurege%ev, is forgotten altogether. 

In the same parting scene between Hec- 
tor and Andromache, Pope has failed in 
many particulars : 

Book vi. /. 504. 

Silent the warior smil'd, and pleas'd, resign'd 
To tender passions all his mighty mind. 

This has nothing of the simplicity of the 
original, and does not fully express the pic- 
ture given by Homer : 

Hroi o psv f/Atiij<rsv Urn \g ircuia, trico^. 
Book vi. /. 544. 

Yet while my Hector still survives, 1 see 
My father, mother, brethren, all in thee. 

"Extop, ccrag (tv poi lira') 7rccJ?}g zoo) nolvitx fiqrtiP) 
Hog zcxo-tTiyvqlog, <rv de poi daXzpog wagoMoirw 



130 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 

The translator has here unaccountably omit- 
ted the most energetic particular, which fills 
up the climax, <tv oe pot SccXtgoc KaPCLzoirrig* 

Book vi. /. 570. 

Yet come it will, the day decreed by fates, 

(How my heart trembles while my tongue relates.) 

This last line is a poor and superfluous ad- 
dition, merely to furnish out a rhyme. Re- 
lates, too, is improperly used for uttering a 
prophecy. The original has uncommon 
grandeur and emphasis : 

Ey l f/,sv yap rohi oiia, zu]a, (pgivx zcci xctla, dvuwv, 
IL<r<r3' q&ag, or kv toT ohw'hn l^-iog Ipyi, &C. 

Johnson has thus beautifully discrimina- 
ted the characteristic features of the two 
great Epics of Greece and Rome : " In the 
" comparison of Homer and Virgil, the dis- 
" criminative excellence of Homer is ele- 
" vation and comprehension of thought, and 
" that of Virgil is grace and splendor of 
" diction. The beauties of Homer are 
" therefore difficult to be lost, and those of 
" Virgil difficult to be retained. The massy 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 131 

" trunk of sentiment is safe by its solidity ; 
" but the blossoms of elocution easily drop 
" away. The author having the choice of 
" his own images, selects those which he 
" can best adorn ; the translator must, at all 
" hazards, follow his original, and express 
" thoughts which perhaps he would not 
" have chosen." 

Johnson's Life of Dryden. 

In the true, simple style of the Greek 
epigram is the following, on a miser, from 
the Anthologia ; 

M.vv ' A(ncXq'7ricto > i i is o (piXctgyvgog zi&v iv Oi%a y 
Kot;, t) TTotsigt <p?i(ri», <p/x7ars [&v, vug zuuoi ; 
'Hdv 1? o fbvg ysXeifrug, Mr,d\v, QtXe, (pqtrit (poSr^g- 
Ov%) rgotprjg TUga, <ro) XgjfyftMi uXka (Aovqg. 

A great part of the beauty of the above 
epigram depends on the singular brevity of 
expression in which the dialogue is given 
between the mouse and the miser, 

Cowper has spun it out into ten heavy 
lines, without a spark of the spirit of the 
original ': 

i2 



132 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 

A miser traversing his house, 

Espied, unusual there, a mouse, 

And thus his uninvited guest, 

Briskly inquisitive, address'd : 

" Tell me, my dear, to what cause is it 

cc I owe this unexpected visit ?" 

The mouse her host obliquely eyed, 

And smiling, pleasantly replied, 

" Fear not, good fellow, for your hoard ; 

" I come to lodge, and not to board." 

The following version of the same epigram, 
if not altogether faithful, rivals the original 
at least in brevity : 

To old Harpagon thus, lamenting his hap, 

A mouse whom the miser had caught in a trap : 

<e My life and my lodging I pray thee to spare ; 

(< As for victuals, I know, I must seek them elsewhere." 

But a translator may discern the general 
character of his author's style, and yet fail 
remarkably in the imitation of it. Unless 
he is possessed of the most correct taste, he 
will be in continual danger of presenting an 
exaggerated picture or a caricatura of his 
original. The distinction between good and 
bad writing is often of so very slender a na- 



CHAP. V. TRANSLATION. 1 33 

ture, and the shadowing of difference so ex- 
tremely delicate, that a very nice perception 
alone can at all times define the limits. 
Thus, in the hands of some translators, who 
have discernment to perceive the general 
character of their author's style, but want 
this correctness of taste, the grave style of 
the original becomes heavy and formal in 
the translation ; the elevated swells into 
bombast, the lively froths up into the pe- 
tulant, and the simple and naif degenerates 
into the childish and insipid *, 

In the fourth Oration against Catiline, 
Cicero, after drawing a most striking picture 
of the miseries of his country, on the sup- 
position that success had crowned the de- 



f 3 



Sectanicm levia nervi 



Dejiciunt animique : prqfcssiis grandia turget : 
Serpit humi tutus nimium timidusque proccllce. — 
In vitium ducit culpa; fuga } si caret arte. 

Ho a. Ep. ad Pi?, 



134 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V. 

signs of the conspirators, closes the detail 
with this grave and solemn application : 

Quia mihi vehement er h&c videntur mi- 
sera' at que miseranda, idcirco in eos qui ea 
perjicere voluerunt, me sever urn, vehemen- 
temque prtebeo. Etenim qucero, si quis pa-* 
terfamilias, liberis suis a servo interfectis, 
uxore occisd, incensa domo, supplicium de ser- 
vo qudrn acerbissimum sumserit ; iitrum is 
clemens ac misericors^ an inhwnanissimus et 
crudelissimus esse videatur ? Mihi verb im- 
portunus ac ferreus, qui non dolore ac cru- 
ciatu fiocentis, suum dolor em ac cruciatum 
lenierit. 

How awkwardly is the dignified gravity 
of the original imitated, in the following 
heavy, formal, and insipid version. 

" Now as to me these calamities appear 
" extremely shocking and deplorable : there- 
" fore I am extremely keen and rigorous in 
" punishing those who endeavoured to 
" bring them about. For let me put the 
" case, that a master of a family had his 



Chap. v. translation. 135 

" children butchered, his wife murdered, his 
" house burnt down by a slave, yet did not 
tl inflict the most rigorous of punishments 
u imaginable upon that slave : would such 
" a master appear merciful and compas- 
11 sionate, and not rather a monster of cruel- 
" ty and inhumanity ? To me that man 
u would appear to be of a flinty cruel na- 
" ture, who should not endeavour to soothe 
" his own anguish and torment by the 
" anguish and torment of its guilty cause *." 

Ovid, in describing the fatal storm in 
which Ceyx perished, says, 

XJndarum inctirsu gravis ttnda, tonitrubus (Ether 
Fluctibus erigilur, codumque cequare videtur 
Pontus. 

An hyperbole, allowable in poetical descrip- 
tion ; but which Dryden has exaggerated 
into the most outrageous bombast : 



i 4 



* The Orations of M. T. Cicero translated into English, 
with notes» historical and critical. Dublin 17 66. 



136 



PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. V. 



Now waves on waves ascending scale the skies, 
And in the fires above the water fries. 

In the first scene of the Amphitryo of 
Plautus, Sosia thus remarks on the unusual 
length of the night : 

Neque ego hac nocte longiorem me vidisse censeo, 
Nisi item uuam, verberatus quam pependi perpetem. 
Earn quoque, JFdepoJ, etiam multo hoec vicit longitudine. 
Credo eqtridem dormire solem atque appotum probe, 
Mir a sunt, nisi invitavit sese in coena phiscidum. 

To which Mercury answers : 

Ain vero, verbero ? Deos esse tui siniiles put as ? 
Ego, Pol, te istis tit is pro diet is et malefactis > furcifer, 
Accipiam, modo sis veni hue : invenies infortunium. 

Echard, who saw no distinction between 
the familiar and the vulgar, has translated 
this in the true dialect of the streets : 

" I think there never was such a long 
" night since the beginning of the world, 
" except that night I had the strappado, 
" and rid the wooden horse till morning ; 
" and o' my conscience, that was twice as 



CHAP. V. 



TRANSLATION. 137 



" long *. By the mackins, I believe Phce- 
" bus has been playing the good-fellow, 
" and's asleep too. I'll be hang'd if he 
" ben't in for't, and has took a little too 
" much o' the creature. 

« Mer. Say you so, slave ? What, treat 
" Gods like yourselves. By Jove, have 
" at your doublet, Rogue, for scandalum 
" magnatum. Approach then, you'll ha* 
" but small joy here. 

" Mer. Accedam, at que hanc appellabo 
" atque supparasitabo patri." Ibid. sc. 3. 

" Mer. I'll to her, and tickle her up as 
" my father has done." 

" Sosia. Irritabis crabrones." Ibid, act 2, 
sc. 2. 

" Sosia* You'd as good p — ss in a bee- 
" hive." 

Seneca, though not a chaste writer, is re- 
markable for a courtly dignity of expres- 



* Echard has here mistaken the author's sense. He ought 
to have said, " o' my conscience, this night is twice as long 
as that was." 



138 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. V, 

sion, which, though often united with ease, 
is in the opposite extreme to meanness or 
vulgarity. L'Estrange has presented him 
through a medium of such coarseness, that he 
is hardly to be known. 



Probatos itaque semper lege, et siquando 
ad alios divertere libuerit, ad priores redi. — 
IfihU ctque sanitate??! impedit qiiam remedio- 

rum crebva mutatio, Ep. 2. " Of authors 

be sure to make choice of the best ; and, 
as I said before, stick close to them ; and 
though you take up others by the bye, re- 
serve some select ones, however, for your 
study and retreat. Nothing is more hurt- 
ful, in the case of diseases and wounds, 
than the frequent shifting of physic and 
plasters." 



Tuit qui dicer et, Quid prodis operam? ille 
quem quceris elatus, combustus est, De belief. 

lib. /• c. 21. " Friend, says a fellow, you 

" may hammer your heart out, for the man 
" you look for is dead." 



CHAP. V, TRANSLATION. 139 

Cum mult a in crudelitatem Pisistrati con- 
viva ebrius dixisset. De ira, lib. 3. c. 11. 
" Thrasippus, in his drink, fell foul upon 
" the cruelties of Pisistratus." 



From the same defect of taste, the simple 
d natural ma 
ish and insipid. 



and natural manner degenerates into child- 



J'ai perdu tout mon bonheur, 
J'ai perdu mon serviteur, 

Colin me delaisse. 
Helas ! il a pu changer ! 
Je voudrois n'y plus songer: 

J'y songe sans cesse. 

Rousseau, Devin de Village. 

I've lost my love, Fve lost my swain : 

Colin leaves me with disdain. 
Naughty Colin ! hateful thought ! 

To Colinette her Colin's naught. 
I will forget him — that I will ! 
Ah, t'wont do — I love him stilL 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 141 



CHAPTER VL 



Examples of a good Taste in Poetical Trans- 
lation. — Bourne's Translations from Mal- 
let and from Prior, — Dr Atterbury from 
Horace. — The Duke de Nivernois from 
Horace. — Dr Jortin from Simonides. — 
Imitation of the same by Dr Markham. 
— Mr Glasse from Mason's Caractacus. — 
Mr Webb from the Anthologia. — Grotius 
from the sa?ne. — Hughes from Claudian, — 
Beattiefrom Pope. — Pope from Boileau. — 
Fragments of the Greek Dramatists by Mr 
Cumberland. 



After these examples of faulty transla- 
tion, from a defect of taste in the translator, 
or the want of a just discernment of his au- 
thor's style and manner of writing, I shall 



142 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VI. 

now present the reader with some specimens 
of perfect translation, where the authors 
have entered with exquisite taste into the 
manner of their originals, and have suc- 
ceeded most happily in the imitation of 
it. 

The first is the opening of the beautiful 
ballad of William and Margaret, translated 
by Vincent Bourne. 

I. 

When all was wrapt in dark midnight, 

And all were fast asleep, 
In glided Margaret's grimly ghost, 

And stood at William's feet. 

II. 

Her face was like the April morn, 

Clad in a wintry-cloud ; 
And clay-cold was her lily hand, 

That held her sable shrowd. 

III. 

So shall the fairest face appear, 

When youth and years are flown ; 
Such is the robe that Kings must wear. 

When death has reft their crown* 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 143 

IV. 

Her bloom was like the springing flower, 

That sips the silver dew ; 
The rose was budded in her cheek, 

And opening to the view. 

V. 

But Love had, like the canker-worm, 

Consum'd her early prime ; 
The. rose grew pale and left her cheek, 

She died before her time. 

L 

Omnia nox tenebris, tacitaque involverat umbra, 

Etfessos homines vinxerat alta quies : 
Cum valvas patuere, et gressu illapsa silenti, 

Thyrsidis ad tectum stabat imago Ckloes. 

II. 

f alius erat, qualis lachrymosi vidtus Aprilis, 

Cui dubia hyberno conditur imbre dies; 
Quaque sepulchralem a pedibus collegit amictum f 

Candidior nivibus, frigidiorqiie maims, 

III, 

Qumque dies aberunt molles, et Iceta juventus, 

Gloria pallebit, sic Cyparissi tua ; 
Cum mors decutiet capiti diademata, reguw 

JHac erit in trabea conspickntfus hono$. 



144 Principles of chap. to. 

IV. 

Forma fait (dum forma fait J nascentis ad instar 

Floris, cui cano gemmula rore tumet ; 
Ft Veneres risere, et subrubuere lobelia, 

Subrubet ut teneris purpura prima rosis. 

V. 

Sed lenta exedit tabes mollemque ruborem, 

Etfaciles risus, et juvenile decus ; 
Ft rosa paulatim languens, nudata reliquit 

Oscula ; prceripuit mors properata Ckloen. 

The second is a small poem by Prior, en- 
titled Ckloe Huntings which is likewise trans- 
lated into Latin by Bourne. 

Behind her neck her comely tresses tied, 

Her ivory quiver graceful by her side, 

A-hunting Chloe went ; she lost her way, 

And through the woods uncertain chanc'd to stray. 

Apollo passing by beheld the maid ; 

And, Sister dear, bright Cynthia, turn, he said ; 

The hunted hind lies close in yonder brake. 

Loud Cupid laugh'd, to see the God's mistake : 

And laughing, cried a Learn better, great Divine, 

To know thy kindred, and to honour mine. 

Rightly advis'd, far hence thy sister seek, 

Or on Meander's banks, or Latmus' peak. 



CHAP, VI. TRANSLATION. 145 

But in this nymph., my friend, my sister know ; 

She draws my arrows, and she bends my bow. 

Fair Thames she haunts, and every neighbouring grove. 

Sacred to soft recess, and gentle Love. 

Go with thy Cynthia, hurl the pointed spear 

At the rough boar, or chace the flying deer : 

I, and my Chloe, take a nobler aim ; 

At human hearts we fling, nor ever miss the game. 

Forte Chloe, pulchros nodo collecta capillos 
Post collum, pharetraque latus succincta decora, 
Venatrix ad sylvam that : cervumque secuta 
Elapsum visu, deserta per avia tendit 
Incerta. Errantem nympham conspexit Apollo, 
Et, converte tuos, dixit, mea Cynthia, cursus ; 
En ibi (monstravitque manuj tibi cervus anhelat 
Occultus dumo, latebrisque moratur in illis. 

Improbus hoec audivit Amor, lepidumque cachinnum 
Attollens, poterantne etiam tua numinafalli ? 
Jlinc, quoeso, bone Phoebe, tuam dignospe sororem, 
Et melius venerare meam. Tua Cynthia longe, 
Mceandri ad ripas, aut summi in vertice Latmi, 
Versatur ; nostra est soror hcec, nostra, inquit arnica, est 
Hcec nostros promit calamos, arcumque sonantem 
Jncurvat, Tamumque colens, placidosque recessus. 
Lucorum, auos alma quies sacravit amori. 



K 



146 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VI, 

Ite per mnbrosos saltus, lustrisque vel aprum 
Excutite horrentem setis, cervumve fugacem, 
Tuque sororque tua, et directo sternite ferro : 
Nobilior labor, et divis dignissima cura, 
Meque Chloenque manet ; nos cor da humana ferimus, 
Vibrantes cerium vulnus nee inutile telum. 

The third example I shall give, is Bishop 
Atterbury's translation of the third Ode of 
the fourth book of Horace * : 

He, on whose birth the Lyric Queen 

Of numbers smiTd, shall never grace 
Th' Isthmian gauntlet, nor be seen 

First in the fam'd Olympic race. 

He shall not, after toils of war, 

And taming haughty monarch's pride, 
With laurel' d brows, conspicuous far, 

To Jove's Tarpeian temple ride. 

But him the streams that warbling flow 

Rich Tyber's flow'ry meads along, 
And shady groves (his haunts) shall know 

The Master of the iEolian song. 



* It is of this celebrated ode that Joseph Scaliger has 
absurdly said, " that he had rather have been the author, 
i f than King of Arragon/* 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 147 

The sons of Rome, majestic Rome ! 

Have fix'd me in the Poet's choir. 
And envy now, or dead, or dumb, 

Forbears to blame what they admire. 

Goddess of the sweet-sounding lute, 

Which thy harmonious touch obeys, 
Who canst the finny race, tho' mute, 

To Cygnet's dying accents raise ; 

Thy gift it is, that all with ease. 

My new, unrival'd honours own ; 
That I still live, and living please, 

O Goddess ! is thy gift alone. 



Quern tu, Melpomene, semel 

Nascentem placido famine videris, 

Ilium non labor Isthmius 

Clarabit pugilejn ; non equus impiger 

Curru ducet Achaico 

Victor em j neque res bellica Deliisj 
Ornatum foliis ducem, 

Quod regum tumidas contuderit minas, 

Ostendet Capitolio: 

Sed quce Tibur aquce fertile perjluunt, 
Et spissce nemorum comoe, 

Fingent Molio carmine nobilem* 

k2 



148 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VI. 

Momce principis urbium 

Dignatur soboles inter amabiles 
Vatum ponere me choros ; 

Etjam dente minus mordeor invido. 

0, testudinis aurece 

Dulcem qua? strepitum, Pieri, temperas / 
mutts quoque piscibus 

Donatura Cycni, si libeat, sonum ! 

Totum muneris hoc tui est, 

Quod monstror digito prceiereuntium 
Romance Jidicen tyrce : 

Quod spiro et placeo, si placeo, tuum est *-. 



* An anonymous English translator of the same ode has 
done justice to his original, in a complete transfusion of its 
sense, and a considerable portion of its nerve and spirit ; 
but with a sensible deficiency of that ease and melody of 
numbers which characterize his prototype, and shine con- 
spicuously in the preceding translation : 

Whom thou, O daughter chaste of Jove, 
Didst at his birth, with eyes of love 
Behold, in Isthmian games, nor he 
Fam'd for the wrestler's wreath shall be : 
Nor yet his latest lineage grace, 
By conquering in the chariot-race : 
Nor him the toils to warriors known, 
A laurel'd chief, shall victor crown. 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 149 

The fourth specimen, is a translation 
by the Duke de Nivernois, of Horace's 
dialogue with Lydia : 

Horace. 
Plus heureux qu'un monarque au faite des grandeurs, 

J'ai vu mes jours dignes d'envie, 
Tranquilles, ils couloient au gre de nos ardeurs : 

Vous m'aimiez, charmante Lydie. 



But fruitful Tibur's winding floods, 
And all her verdant mass of woods, 
To render famous shall conspire, 
For varied verse that suits the lyre. 
Imperial Rome, the nurse of Fame> 
Has deign' d to register my name 
Among the poets' tuneful choir, 
And envy now abates her ire. 
Goddess, who the notes dost swell, 
So sweetly on my golden shell ; 
Who canst confer, if such thy choice, 
On fishes mute the cygnet's voice : 
'Tis to thee I wholly owe 
Whispers flying where I go ; 
That to the pressing throng I'm show'd 
Inventor of the Roman ode. 

k3 



150 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. VI. 

Lydie 
Que mes jours etoient beaux, quand des soins les plus doux 

Vous payiez ma flamme sincere ! 
Venus me regardoit avec des yeux jaloux ; 

Chloe n'avoit pas S9U vous plaire. 

Horace. 

Par son luth, par sa voix, organe des amours, 

Chloe seule me paroit belle : 
Si le Destin jaloux veut epargner ses jours, 

Je donnerai les miens pour elle. 

Lydie. 
Le jeune Calais, plus beau que les amours, 

Plait seul a mon ame ravie . 
Si le Destin jaloux veut epargner ses jours, 

Je donnerai deux fois ma vie. 

Horace. 

Quoi, si mes premiers feux, ranimant leur ardeur, 

Etouffoient une amour fatale ; 
Si, perdant pour jamais tous ses droits sur mon cceur, 

Chloe vous laissoit sans rivale 

Lydie. 
Calais est charmant : mais je n'aime que vous, 

Ingrat, mon cceur vous Justine , 
Heureuse egalement en des liens si doux, 

De perdre ou de passer la vie. 



CHAP. VI* TRANSLATION. 151 



Horace. 
Donee gratus eram tibi, 

Nee quisquam potior brachia Candida? 
Cervici juvenis dabat ; 

Persarum vigui rege beatior, 

Lydia. 

Donee non aliam magis 

Arsisti, neque erat Lydia post Chloen ; 
Multi Lydia nominis 

JRomana vigui clarior Ilia. 

Horace. 

Me nunc Thressa Chloe regit, 

Didces docta modos, et ciiharae sciens : 
Pro qua non meiuam mori, 

Si parcent animcejata superstitu 

Lydia. 

Me torretface mutua 

Thurini Calais Jilius Ornitki ; 
Pro quo bis patiar mori, 

Si parcent puerofata super stiti. 

k4 



152 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VI. 

Horace. 
Quid, si prisca redit Venus, 

Diductosque jugo cogit aheneo? 
Sijiava excutitur Chloe, 

Rejectceque patetjamia hydioe ? 

Lydia. 

Quamquam sidere pulchrior 

Ille est, tu levior cortice, et improbo 
Iracundior Hadria; 

Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeamlibens. 

Hor. /. S. Od. 9. 

If any thing is faulty in this excellent 
translation by the Duke de Nivernois, it 
is the last stanza, which does not convey 
the happy petulance, the procacitas of the 
original. The reader may compare with 
this, the fine translation of the same Ode by 
Bishop Atterbury, " Whilst I was fond, 
" and you were kind," which is too well 
known to require insertion. 

The next example is a translation by Dr 
Jortin, of that beautiful fragment of Simo- 
nides, preserved by Dionysius, in which 
Danae, exposed with her child to the fury 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 153 

of the ocean, by command of her inhuman 
father, is described lamenting over her sleep- 
ing infant : 

Ex Dionys. Hal. De Compositione Verbo- 
rum, c. 26. 

"Org Xocgvazi ev dctiltoi'hea clvepog 
"BgitArj zsveoov, xivri&eiffa de "ki^va, 

Uageicug, kptpi re Ueg<r£ GocXXs 
O/Xctv %sfa> h&ev re' u rezvov, 
'Oiov iyu vrovov. cv $ a,vre yttX&&7\m 
"Hrogi xvu<T<reig ev ure^zei i&fAc&rt, 
'Ka,'hzeoy6{A<pa) is. y vvxriXupzsii, 
"Kvuvea) re ivo<p&>* crv V avaXeav 
'Ynzgfo rea,v xopuv Qadeluv 
TloLgwrog zvpctrog ax k\eyeig 
Ov$ averts <p6oyyuv y vrogQvgect 
Keiftevog ev ^Xavih y irgoffcwrov scocXov' 
E< tie rot deivov ro ye deivov qv 
Kcti %ev ifjwv pqfAuruv Xeffrov 
Tnelfceg Sag* ne'hopoci, ivfe, £ge$o$, 



I 54 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. VL 

Evotrco h izovrog, ivo^eroo upergov xcczov. 
MccTUioCxXici §g rig (poiveiq 
Zev vrureg, Ik <rio- on iq OctgcccXsor 
Evog, ivyopai rexvotpt liiKoig poi- 

Nocte sub obscura, verrentibus aequora ventis, 
Quum brevis immensa cymba nataret aqua 
Multa gemens Danae subjecit brachia nato, 

Et tenera? lacrymis immaduerc genae. 
Tu tamcn ut dulci, dixit, pulcherrime, somno 

Obrutus, et metuens tristia nulla, jaces ! 
Quamvis, heu quales cunas tibi concutit unda, 

Praebet et inccrtam pallida luna facem, 
Et vehemens flavos everberat aura capillos, 

Et prope, subsultans, irrigat ora liquor. 
Nate, meam sentis vocem ? Nil cernis et audis, 

Teque premunt placidi vincula blanda dci ; 
Nee mihi purpureis effundis bla?sa labellis 

Murmura, nee notos confugis usque sinus. 
Care, quiesce, puer, saevique quiescite fluctus, 

Et mea qui pulsas coi da, quiesce, dolor. 
Cresce puer ; matris leni atque ulciscere luctus, 
Tuque tuos saltern protege summe Tonans. 

This admirable translation falls short of 
its original only in a single particular, the 
measure of the verse. One striking beauty 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 155 

of the original, is the easy and loose struc- 
ture of the verse, which has little else to 
distinguish it from animated discourse, but 
the harmony of the syllables ; and hence It 
has more of natural impassioned eloquence, 
than is conveyed by the regular measure of 
the translation. That this characteristic of 
the original should have been overlooked 
by the ingenious translator, is the more re- 
markable, that the poem is actually quoted 
by Dionysius, as an apposite example of 
that species of composition in which poetry 
approaches to the freedom of prose ; dps 

GfAoioTTjra, irgog rtjy Kityv xi^iv- Dr Markham 
saw this excellence of the original ; and in 
that fine imitation of the verses of Simoni- 
des, which an able critic * has pronounced 
to be far superior to the original, has given 
it its full effect. The passage alluded to 
is an apostrophe of a mother to her sleep- 
ing infant, a widowed mother, who has just 
left the deathbed of her husband. 



Dr Warton. 



156 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VI. 

His conatibus occupata, ocellos 
Guttis lucidulis adhuc madentes 
Convertit, puerum sopore vinctum^ 
Qua nutrix placido sinu fovebat : 
Dormis, inquit, O miselle, nee te 
Vultus exanimes, silentiumque 
Per longa atria commovent, nee ullo 
Fratrum tangeris, aut meo dolore ; 
Nee sentis patre destitutes illo, 
Qui gestans genibusve -brachiove, 
Aut formans lepidam tuam loquelam > 
Tecum mille modis ineptiebat. 
Tu dormis, volitantque qui solebant 

Risus in roseis tuis labellis.- 

Dormi parvule ! nee mali dolores 
Qui matrem cruciant tuae quietis 
Rumpant somnia. — Quando, quando tales 
Redibunt oculis meis sopores ! 

As a counterpart to these specimens of 
Latin translation, or imitation from the 
Greek, I shall now lay before the reader, 
what I conceive to be an attempt yet more 
arduous, though accomplished with equal 
felicity. The specimen I allude to is taken 
from a complete translation of Mason's Ca- 
ractacus into Greek verse, by the late Mr 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 157 

Glasse of Christ Church, Oxon ; a work 
which has been justly deemed one of the 
most extraordinary efforts in Greek litera- 
ture that has appeared since the revival 
of letters. 

The following speech of Caractacus to 
the. Druids, who attempt to soothe his 
agitated mind, preparatory to the cere- 
mony of initiating him in their mysteries, 
and adopting him into their sacred order, 
must be allowed to possess great poetical 
merit. I present it first in the English ; in 
order that those parts may be more parti- 
cularly remarked, in which the translator 
has assumed an allowable latitude, and per- 
haps even improved upon his original. 

The Chief of the Druids thus addres- 
ses Caractacus ; proposing to him the vir- 
tuous fortitude of his daughter as an ex* 
ample : 



■ _— See, Prince, this prudent maid, 

Now, while the ruddy flame of sparkling youth 



15S PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. VI. 

Glows on her beauteous cheek, can quit the world 
Without a sigh, whilst thou 

Caractacus. 

would save my queen, 
From a hase ravisher ; would wish to plunge 
This falchion in his breast, and so avenge 
Insulted royalty. O holy men ! 
Ye are the sons of piety and peace ; 
Ye never felt the sharp vindictive spur 
That goads the injur'd warrior ; the hot tide 
That flushes crimson on the conscious cheek 
Of him who burns for glory ; else indeed 
Ye much would pity me : would curse the fate 
That coops me here inactive in your graves, 
Robs me of hope, tells me this trusty steel 
Must never cleave one Roman helm again, 
Never avenge my queen, nor free my country. 

Druid. 

'Tis Heaven's high will 

Caractacus. 

I know it, reverend fathers ! 
'Tis Heaven's high will, that these poor aged eyes 
Shall never more behold that virtuous woman, 
To whom my youth was constant : 'twas Heaven's high will 
To take her from me at that very hour, 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 159 

When best her love might soothe me ; that black hour, 
May memory ever raze it from her records ! 
When all my squadrons fled, and left their king 
Old and defenceless : him, who nine whole years 
Had taught them how to conquer : yes, my friends^ 
For nine whole years against the sons of rapine 
I led my veterans, oft to victory, 
Never, till then, to shame ! Bear with me, Druid, 

I've done : begin the rites, 

■ 

The beauties of this fine speech are not im- 
paired in the following version, which, with 
equal pathos, has a smplicity more conso- 
nant to the language of the translation, than 
would have been any attempt to imitate 
the glowing diction of the original : 



KocXcug sXs^ccg- zc&i to fizkris'oy <Pgove7f, 
Hr/£, vtoLvig 8<rot 9 xagrsgag 'irXtjg 
Asivov rugwyfjLov, r$ vvoTrotxriv Qegsiv 
AgXflS r ayavr,g 9 %ai zaXqg rvgavvidog. 
2y y d> KugcwTccx ■ 



160 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. TL 



KAPAKTAKOS. 

Efc {JLtOlS'OgOC OlhOt 

Ualffut rov vfigiffjg , owajg, yv^rcov ?\ap, 
TtfAag&M fid eXvy plug dsivrjv Xafir}, 

Tijgaurxer '-■• h i\ -AvIpov, Z dvtrcifAfAOPog 
Avcl% zax.5rut, rqv rs trefAvqv sus'Mrt? 
i JLvd%<rict,(rf6ov r kngog fpotiriyiris 
> Rvoy}(rccl\ oizreipcir uv hd'hiwrwovy 

*Ov l^OhtohOT IfipifrX (AOlPUg CV7C0 

A&oiirev thing' bwror, bwo6' vs'spoy 

Va^ouov h yAyuHriv ircura %i<pzi' 

AcifAapl' b,<§ vfipifypog £ <rciw(rof/,ui, 

'Ov ynv noflpfijuv. Asfsr, -* "H^gAov 0go/«" 

Tyufwi ysgaior '-^^(purocv ieivo) 6so) y 

Ms fArjAr ucrtfalv ipw Tvidqp'iav, 

'H/3?? re, yriPcf, r, u)ev r)yoc7r^fASvtjV' 

t/ltiXiyf/u uv'iug, km wovm ^eXfcr^ov* 



CHAP. VH. TRANSLATION. 161 

3 OXoiro Kizgov rifiug) a Quyov nanus 

AetXa) (paXctyyeg, xui ft lroX^n<ra>v Xmuv 

"Ava^t)', og 'IrocXw uno'xivs'ojv nccra, 

'Hyyiffccubriv Kgog zvdog ivvaileg fgoira* 

'Aury/gag Ityewyov vuvlzg — ?Q Agv?,Agv? f 

Mavtrj QogSfAui — tto7o» l^fivim "koyov ; 

liyu* weguiv60\ wg tome, (Secpta,* 

'Caractacus, Grceco Carmine redditus, a Georgio Henrico 
Glasse, A. B. Mdes Christi alumno. Qxon. 1771 *. 

The next specimen I shall give, is the 
translation of a beautiful epigram, from the 
Antholonia, which is supposed by Junius to 
be descriptive of a painting mentioned by 
Pliny f, in which, a mother wounded, and 

L 



* The author of this excellent translation gave afterwards 
to the public a similar proof of erudition and taste in his ver- 
sion of the Samson Agonistes of Milton. See 2AM* £2 N 
AmNlETHS, Groeco Carmine redditus, a G. H. Glasse, 
A. M. Mdes Christi nuper alumno. Qxon. 1788. 

♦f- Hujus (viz. Aristidis) pictura est, oppido capto, ad met" 
frjs morientis e vulnere mammam adrepens infans ; intelligi<° 



162 



PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. "V% 



in the agony of death, is represented as 
giving suck to her infant for the last time. 

EXxvcov vfrocriov vciyuu, zoircitp'&ifAsyqg, 
H^ yug f/(pss<r<n T^iwottvqos* ctXAa rot (Aflrgog 

Thus happily translated into English by 
Mr Webb : 

Suck, little wretch, while yet thy mother lives, 
Suck the last drop her fainting bosom gives ! 
She dies : her tenderness survives her breath, 
And her fond love is provident in death; 



turque sentire mater et timere, ne emortuo lacte sanguinem in- 
Jhns lambat. Plin. Nat. Hist. L 35. c. 10.— If the epigram 
was made on the subject of this picture, Pliny's idea of the 
expression of the painting is somewhat more refined than that 
of the epigrammatist, though certainly not so natural. As 
a complicated feeling can never be clearly expressed in paint- 
ing, it is not improbable that the same picture should have 
suggested ideas somewhat different to different observers. 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 163 

Nor with less felicity of expression, and 
with yet more strict fidelity to the original, 
is the following epigram from the Antholo- 
gia, translated into Latin by Grotius : 

f H Ha^ivi Kv&bpsioc tii o^u.ajog ig Kv/Sbv 7}Xh 9 

J$x7v0{/Av/} zofliiuv likova, ty\v idirjv. 
Ylccvlri J* kOgriffcura, itzpicryJi^lco Ivi yjypoo 9 

Hpa%irt\7ig iz h^sv a, pr, Sepug, uXX' o (rfyqpog 
"E%e(r " Apqg o'tuv yjhXi rr,v HaCptqv. 

Lib. iv. c. 12. 

Diva Paphi Cnidiam trans aequora venit ad urbem. 

Effigiem cupiens pulchra videre suam. 
Venit ut in templurn, lustravitque omnia, Quando est 

Praxiteles nudam me speculatus ? ait. 
Non vidit, Venus, ille nefas quae cernere ; sed Mars 

Ferreus expressit qualem amat ipse Deam. 

Equal in merit to any of the preceding, 
is the following translation by Mr Hughes 
from Claudian. 



l2 



164 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VI. 



Ex Epithalamio Honor ii et Maries. 

Cunctatar stupefacta Venus ; nunc ora puellce, 
Nu?ic flavam niveo miratur vertice matrem. 
Hwc modo crescenti, plence par altera Luna* : 
Assurgit ceu forte minor sub matre virenti 
Laurus : et ingentes ramos, olimque fuiuras 
Vromittit jam parva comas: veljiore sub uno 
Seu geminos Pa?stana rosce per jugera regnant 
Ha?c largo matura die, saturataque vernis 
Horibus indidget spatio : latet altera nodo, 
Nee teneris audetfoliis admittere soles. 

The goddess paus'd ; and, held in deep amaze. 
Now views the mother's, now the daughter's face^ 
Different in each, yet equal beauty glows ; 
That, the full moon, and this, the crescent shows. 
Thus, rais'd beneath its parent tree is seen 
The laurel shoot, while in its early green 
Thick sprouting leaves and branches are essay 5 d, 
And all the promise of a future shade. 
Or blooming thus, in happy Paestan fields, 
One common stock two lovely roses 3delds : 
Mature by vernal dews, this dares display 
Its leaves full-blown, and boldly meets the day : 
That, folded in its tender nonage lies, 
A beauteous bud, nor yet admits the skies. 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 165 

The following passage, from & Latin ver- 
sion of the Messiah of Pope, by a youth of 
uncommon genius *, exhibits the singular 
union of ease, animation and harmony of 
numbers, with the strictest fidelity to the 
original. 

Lanigera ut caute placidus regit agmina pastor, 
Aeria ut explorat purum, camposque virerites ; 
Amissas ut quoerit oves, moderator euntum 
Ut gressus, curatque diu, noctuque tuetur : 
Ut teneros, agnos lenta inter brachia tollit, 
Mulcenti pascit palma, gremioque Jbcillat ; 
Sic genus omne hominum sic complectetur amanti 
Pectore, pr omissus seclo Pater illefuturo. 

As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care> 
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air ; 
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, 
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects ; 



l3 



* J. H. Beattie, son of the learned and ingenious Dr Beat- 
tie of Aberdeen, a young man who disappointed the promise 
of great talents by an early death. In him, the author of 
The Minstrel saw his Edwin realized. 



166 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP, VI. 

The tender lambs he raises in his arms, 
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms : 
Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage 
The promis'd Father of the future age. 

The following translation by Pope, of a 
fable from Boileau, affords a singular ex- 
ample of a very rare conjunction, the most 
scrupulous fidelity to the original, with a 
complete transfusion of its poetical spirit : 

Once, (says an author, where, I need not say,) 
Two travellers found an oyster in their way ; 
Both fierce, both hungry ; the dispute grew strong, 
While, scale in hand, dame Justice pass'd along. 
Before her each with clamour pleads the laws, 
Explaiu'd the matter, and would win the cause. 
Dame Justice, weighing long the doubtful right, 
Takes, opens, swallows it, before their sight. 
The cause of strife remov'd so rarely well, 
There take, (says Justice), take ye, each, a shell. 
We thrive at Westminster by fools like you ! 
'Twas a fat oyster. — Live in peace — Adieu. 

Un jour, dit un auteur, n'importe en quel chapitre, 
Deux voyageurs a jeun, rencontrerent une huitre. 
Tous deux la contestoient. lorsque dans leur chemin, 
La Justice pass , la balance a la main ; 



CHAP. VI, TRANSLATION. 167 

t)evant elle a grand bruit ils expliquent la chose ; 

Tous deux avee depens veulent gagner leur cause. 

La Justice, pesant ce droit litigieux, 

Demande l'huitre, 1'ouvre, et l'avale a. leurs yeux ; 

Et par ce bel arret terminant la battaille ; 

Tenez> voila, dit elle, a chacun une ecaille. 

Des sottises d'autrui nous vivons au Palais; 

Messieurs, l'huitre etoit bonne — Adieu.— Vivez en paix. 

To these specimens of perfect translation, 
in which, not only the ideas of the origi- 
nal are completely transfused, but the man- 
ner most happily imitated, I add the follow- 
ing admirable translations by Mr Cumber- 
land*, of two fragments from the Greek 
dramatists Timocles and Diphilus, which are 
preserved by Athenseus. 

The first of these passages beautifully 
illustrates the moral uses of the tragic 
drama : 



l4 



* Observer, vol. iv. p. 115. and vol, v. p. 145, 



168 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VI, 

Nay, my good friend, out hear me ! I confess 

Man is the child of sorrow, and this world, 

In which we breathe, hath cares enough to plague us ; 

But it hath means withal to soothe these cares : 

And he who meditates on others woes, 

Shall in that meditation lose his own : 

Call then the tragic poet to your aid, 

Hear him, and take instruction from the stage : 

Let Telephus appear ; behold a prince, 

A spectacle of poverty and pain, 

Wretched in both. — And what if you are poor ? 

Are you a demigod ? Are you the son 

Of Hercules ? Begone ! Complain no more. 

Doth your mind struggle with distracting thoughts ? 

Do your wits wander ? Are you mad ? Alas ! 

So was Alcmeon, whilst the world ador'd 

His father as their God. Your eyes are dim ; 

What then ! The eyes of (Edipus were dark, 

Totally dark. You mourn a son ; he's dead ; 

Turn to the tale of Niobe for comfort, 

And match your loss with hers. You're lame of foot } 

Compare it with the foot of Philoctetes, 

And make no more complaint. But you are old, 

Old and unfortunate ; consult Oeneus ; 

Hear what a king endur'd, and learn content. 

Sum up your miseries, number up your sighs, 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 169 

The tragic stage shall give you tear for tear, 
And wash out all afflictions but its own *>» 

The following fragment from Diphilus 
conveys a very favourable idea of the spirit 



* The original of the fragment of Timocles 



7 £l rdv, etKHTOV yjv It rat (AiXX&i Asys<i>. 
Av$-£6)7ros z<rt £a>ev \7rl7c6V6v tpvcru, 

K.CCI 7CoXXol XV7TVjj> fiios h lotVTCJ <£>«£«*. 

Tlecpx^v^xg ouv typovTioav ctvtvpxro 
Tavrxg. yoig vSj tav iota* A>j3-»)y A#£aw» 

Ms0' vioovijs ctTrqX&l 7retidivS-lis 0' oifiuc. 
TiSg ya,^ r pay obits 7Fpcorov u fixXu <rx.07CUt 
£1$ axQiXxri 7rxvretg* o (Ah yct(> uv 7iivn<i 
UraxfiTi^ov otvra xo&tetfAx&av rav TnXztyov 
TivofAivov, vjovi TW TSVtXV QUW ty'ieu. 
O vocrZv £g ftocvtKas, AXKfxxim Inti-fyotT** 
OlpS-oiXftta lis $ tiTi ®ive3cct rvtyXoi. 
T&vviKi tu Trxig 5 *) Niofin kvlxQim, 
X<#Ao? r;$ \rri-, tov <$iXoKlqrw op£. 



170 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VI. 

of the dialogue, in what has been termed 
the New Comedy of the Greeks, or that 
which was posterior to the age of Alexan- 



Axcuvtk y«£ rcc (Ail^ov % -zrvMyfoz rig 
Arv^fMtr otXXoig ysyovor IvvoVf&zvos, 
Tag uvtos etvris trv^t^kg j>£ov $%$(. 

At ken. Drip. lib. vi- 

^hus, in the literal version of Dalechampius : 

Hem amice, nunc auscuUa quod dicturus sum tibi 
Animal natura laboriosum homo est. 
Tristia vita secum affert plurima : 
Ilaque Curarum hoec adinvenit solatia : 
Mentem enim suorum malorum oblitam, 
Alienorum casuum reputatio consolaiur, 
Indequejit ea larta, et erudita ad sapientiant. 
Ttajicos enim primum, si libel, considera* 
Quam prosint omnibus. Qui eget, 
Pauperiorem sefuisse Telephum 
Cum intelligit, leniusfert inopiam. 
Insania qui cegrotat, de Alcmeone is cOgitet. 
Lippus est aliquis, Phirtea ccecum is contemptetur. 
Obiit tibijilius, dolorem levabit exemplum Niobcs* 
€hudicat quispiam, Philocteten is respicito. 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 171 

der the Great. Of this period Diphilus and 
Menander were among the most shining or- 
naments : 

We have a notable good law at Corinth, 

Where, if an idle fellow outruns reason, 

Feasting and junketting at furious cost, 

The sumptuary proctor calls upon him, 

And thus begins to sift him. — You live well, 

But have you well to live? You squander freely, 

Have you the wherewithal ? Have you the fund 

For these outgoings ? If you have, go on 1 

If you have not, we'll stop you in good time, 

Before you outrun honesty ; for he 

Who lives we know not how, must live by plunder ; 

Either he picks a purse, or robs a house, 

Or is accomplice with some knavish gang, 

Or thrusts himself in crowds, to play th' informer, 

And put his perjur'd evidence to sale : 

This a well-order'd city will not suffer ; 

Such vermin we expel " And you do wisely > 

" But what is that to me ?" Why this it is : 



Miser est senex aliquis, in (Eneum is intuetor. 

Omnia namque graviora quam patiatur 

Infortunia quids animadvertens in aliis cum depreltenderif. 

Suas calamitates luget mimis. 



172 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VL 

Here we behold you every day at work, 
Living forsoooth ! not as your neighbours live, 
But richly, royally, ye gods ! — Why man, 
We cannot get a fish for love or money, 
You swallow the whole produce of the sea : 
YouVe driv'n our citizens to browse on cabbage ; 
A sprig of parsley sets them all a fighting, 
As at the Isthmian games : If hare or partridge, 
Or but a simple thrush comes to the market, 
Quick, at a wOrd, you snap him : By the Gods ! 
lJunt Athens through, you shall not find a feather 
But in your kitchen ; and for wine, 'tis gold 



Not to be purchas'd. — We may drink the ditches. *. 



* The original of the fragment of Diphilus 

TotSro iiopipov l<rt ftihtii iv6ecdi 
Kfl£iv3w$, tv ixv riv o-y/avisvT kit 
ActfATrgax; ogapiv, txtov uvetx^tvuv 7ro&&> 
Z*], xxt rt 7rotav. x.etv piv %<rto&v ly^ 
H$ Ai 7rpo<roooi Xvuti r kvctXeopxrec^ 
Eoiv U7roXotvuv q 01 tStov rov /3/oy. 
E#v £' v7Ti£ tjjv ktriccv ox7rotvm Tv%n, 

A-ZSeiTCM KVTCO TSTd {W ZTOl&lV in. 

Og &\ $1 py 5Tg/3TJT , h/lf&X'Xol) fypllZVi 

Eciv as ftv$i onSv 'i%m £$ TroXvllXws, 
T» o^nfuw tcu^ukolv kvroy. H^ukXu^s 
OY» h^iyjiloii y#g £*jV xviv x.ctx.5 rw<r 



CIIAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 173 

Of equal merit with these two last speci- 
mens, are the greatest part of those transla- 
tions given by Mr Cumberland of the frag- 
ments of the Greek dramatists. The lite- 



Tardy* vvvi/ig ; xXX MvuyKeuus i%£i 

H XwXO^vIhV rxg vvk\x<;, q nt^upv^etv^ 

H t5v 7romvrm rxvtx. xoivcoveiv na-iv. 

H GrvKotpxvleiv kx] uyo^ccv, ij pxervgeiv 

"J'Sv^jj. Ttinruv bcxxfrxi'goftiv yzvog. 

O^B-as yi vv A/\ xXXx ^ «■/ tkt Ipci $ 

Ogufjciv o^/mSvB" zxmtyis yipz^xg, 

OY^< fiir^iafg, /SsXWs, <r, «AA' vTrz^tycivcoc. 

OY* if iv Ift&voipiov V7T0 crx pirxXxoetv. 

'ZvvijKxg vifiav «$ tx Xclfcxvx tqv ttoXiv, 

III?] rm (riXtvav ^.xy/j^i^t utrvt^ IcSjk/mj. 

Axyco$ T($ ii<rzXviXvB- ; zvQvs vjP7TXKxg. 

Uip^ix-x T q k%\yiv ; -Axi v*i A/' kx. srt 

Ef» e)l vfA,xg Soe Tretoptsvyv id&tv. 

Tov fyvixov oivov lz3-ililipc/)xx<; 7roXy. 

At hen. Deip. lib. vi. 

Thus in the version of Dalechampius : 

A. Talis istic lex est, o vir optime, 
Corinthiis : si quern obsonantem semper 
Splendidius aspexerint, ilium ul interrogent 
Unde vivat, quidnam agat : quod si facilitates Hit sunt 



174 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. VI. 

rary world owes to that ingenious writer a 
very high obligation for his excellent view 
of the progress of the dramatic art among 
the Greeks, and for the collection he has 



Quartern ad eum sumptum reditus sufficiat, 

Eo vitce luxu permittunt frui : 

Sin amplius tmpendat quam pro re sua, 

jVe id porrofaciat inferdicitur. 

Si non pareat, mulcta quidem plectitur. 

Si sumptuose vivit qui nihil prorsus habet 3 

Traditur puniendus carnifici. B. Proh Hercules* 

A. Quod enim scias, fieri minime potest 

Ut qui eo est ingenio, non vivat improbe : itaque necessum 
Yel noctu grassantem obvios spoliare, vel effractariuvi pa- 

rietem sujfodere, 
Vel his sefuribus adjungere socium, 
Aid delatorem et quadruplatorem esse inforo ; autfalsum 
Teslari : a talium hominum genere purgatur civitas. 

B. Becte, per Jovem : sed ad me quid hoc attinet ? 

A. Nos te videmus obsonantem quotidie 
Haud mediocriter, vir optime, sedfastuose, et magnifice, 
Ne pisciculum quidem habere licet caussa tua : 
Cives nostros commisisti, pugnaturos de oleribus : 



CHAP. VI. TRANSLATION. 175 

made of the remains of more than fifty of 
their comic poets *• 



De apio dimicamus tanquam in Isthmiis, 

Si lepus accessit, eum extemplo rapis. 

Perdicem, ac turdum ne volantem quidem 

Propter vos> ita me Jupiter amet, nobis jam videre licel s 

Peregrini multum auxistis vini pretium. 

* The greater part of the fragments translated by Mr 
Cumberland, are to be found in two separate works of Gro- 
tius, viz. Excerpta ex Tragcediis et Commoediis Grcecis, Paris, 
1626, 4to; and Dicta Poetarum quce apud Stobozum extant; 
Paris, 1623, 4to. 



CHAP. VII, TRANSLATION. 177 



CHAR VII. 



Limitation of the Rule regarding the Imita- 
tion of Style, — This Imitation must be re- 
gulated by the Genius of Languages, — 
The Latin admits of a greater Brevity of 
Expression than the English ; — As does 
the French. — The Latin and Greek allow 
greater Inversions than the English, — And 
admit more freely of Ellipsis. 

1 he rule which enjoins to a translator the 
imitation of the style of the original author, 
demands several limitations. 

1. This imitation must always be regula- 
ted by the nature of the genius of the lan- 
guages of the original and of the transla- 
tion. 

M 



178 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII. 

The Greek language, from the frequency 
and familiarity of ellipsis, allows a concise- 
ness of expression which is scarcely attain- 
able in any other tongue, and perhaps least 
of all in the English. 

O [ktv £<p' big oei, zee) big J« o^yitoy/ivog, in o\ 
zcii etc $&, zcli ore, kcu ogov yg&vov, Iffcttveirut. 

Aristot. 

To render this faithfully into English, it is 
impossible to use fewer words than the fol- 
lowing : " He is to be commended, who is 
" angry with those persons whom he ought 
" to be angry with, and who is angry in such 
" a manner, and at such proper time, and 
" only for so long a time, as the cause and 
" occasion justify." 

The Latin language, too, though in an in- 
ferior degree to the Greek, admits of a bre- 
vity, which cannot be successfully imitated 
in the English. 

Cicero thus writes to Trebatius, (Lib. 7, 
ep. 17.) : 



CHAP. VII. TRANSLATION. 179 

In Britanniam te projection non esse gau- 
deo, quod et tu labore caruisti, et ego te de 
rebus ill is non audiam. 

It is impossible to translate this into Eng- 
lish with equal brevity, and at the same time 
do complete justice to the sentiment. Mel- 
moth, therefore, has shewn great judgment, 
in sacrificing the imitation of style to the 
perfect transfusion of the sense. " I am 
u glad, for my sake as well as yours, that 
" you did not attend Caesar into Britain ; 
" as it has not only saved you the fatigue of 
" a very disagreeable journey, but me like- 
" wise that of being the perpetual auditor 
" of your wonderful exploits." Melm. Cic. 
Lett. b. 2. /. 12. 

Pliny to Minutianus, Lib. 3. Ep. 9. says, 
towards the end of his letter : Temere dixi 
— Succ urrit quod prater ier am ^ et quidem se- 
ro: sed quanquam prcepostere reddetur. Tacit 
hoc Homer us v multique illius exemplo. Est 
alioqui per decorum : a me tamen non ideo 
fiet. It is no doubt possible to translate 
this passage into English with a conciseness 

m2 



180 



PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII- 



almost equal to the original ; but in this ex- 
periment we must sacrifice all its ease and 
spirit. " I have said this rashly — I recol- 
lect an omission — somewhat too late in- 
deed. It shall now be supplied, though 
a little preposterously. Homer does this : 
and many after his example. Besides, it 
is not unbecoming ; but this is not my 
reason." Let us mark how Mr Mel- 
moth, by a happy amplification, has preser- 
ved the spirit and ease, though sacrificing 
the brevity of the original. " But upon re- 
" collection, I find that I must recal that 
" last word ; for I perceive, a little too late 
" indeed, that I have omitted a material 
u circumstance. However, I will mention 
" it here, though something out of its place. 
" In this, I have the authority of Homer, 
" and several other great names, to keep 
" me in countenance ; and the critics will 
" tell you this irregular manner has its 
" beauties : but, upon my word, it is a beau- 
< c ty I had not at all in my view." 

An example of a similar brevity of ex- 
pression, which admits of no imitation in 



CHAP. VII* TRANSLATION* 181 

English, occurs in another letter of Cicero 
to Trebatius, (Ep. I 7. 14.) 

Chrysippus Vettius, Cyri architecti libertus, 
fecit, ut te non immemorem putarem meu 
Valde jam lautus es qui gravere literas ad 
me dare, homine prasertim domes tico. Quod 
si scribere oblitus es, minus multijam te ad^ 
vocaio causa cadent. Sin nostri oblitus es, 
dabo operam tit istkuc venia?n i ant equam pla- 
ne ex animo tuo effluo. 

In translating this passage, Mr Melmoth 
has shewn equal judgment. Without at- 
tempting to imitate the brevity of the origi- 
nal, which he knew to be impossible, he 
saw, that the characterising features of the 
passage were ease and vivacity ; and these 
he has very happily transfused into his 
translation. 

" If it were not for the compliments you 
" sent me by Chrysippus, the freedman of 
" Cyrus the architect, I should have imagi- 
" ned I no longer possessed a place in your 
" thoughts. But surely you are become a 

m 3 



/ 



182 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII. 

" most intolerable fine gentleman, that you 
" could not bear the fatigue of writing to 
" me, when you had the opportunity of do- 
" ing so by a man, whom, you know, I look 
" upon as one almost of my own family. 
" Perhaps, however, you may have forgot- 
" ten the use of your pen : and so much 
" the better, let me tell you, for your clients, 
" as they will lose no more causes by its 
" blunders. But if it is myself only that 
" has escaped your remembrance, I must 
" endeavour to refresh it by a visit, before 
" I am worn out of your memory, beyond 
" all power of recollection." 

Numberless instances of a similar exer- 
cise of judgment and of good taste are to be 
found in Mr Murphy's excellent translation 
of Tacitus. After the death of Germanicus, 
poisoned, as was suspected, by Piso, with 
the tacit approbation of Tiberius, the public 
loudly demanded justice against the suppo- 
sed murderer, and the cause was solemnly 
tried in the Roman Senate. Piso, foresee- 
ing a judgment against him, chose to anti- 
cipate his fate by a voluntary death. The 



CHAP. VII. TRANSLATION. 183 

Senate decreed, that his family name should 
be abolished for ever, and that his brother 
Marcus should be banished from his coun- 
try for ten years ; but in deference to the 
solicitations of the Empress, they granted a 
free pardon to Plancina, his widow. Taci- 
tus proceeds to relate, that this sentence of 
the Senate was altered by Tiberius : Malta 
ex ea sententia miiigata sunt a principe ; 
ne nomen Pisonis fastis eximeretur, quando 
M. Antonii, qui helium patria fecisset, 
Julii Antonii, qui domum Augusti violas- 
set, manerent ; et M. Pisonem ignominice 
exemit, concessitque ei paterna bona ; sa- 
tis jirmus, ut scepe memoravi, adversus pe- 
cuniam ; et turn pudore absolutce Plancina 
placabilior. At que idem cum Valerius Mes- 
saliiras signum aureum in ade Martis Ultoris, 
Cacina Severus aram idtioni statuendam cen- 
suissent, prohibuit : ob externas ea victorias 
sacrari dictitans, domestica mala tristitia ope* 
rienda. An. 1. 3. c. 18* 

Thus necessarily amplified, and translated 
with the ease of original composition, by 
Mr Murphy : 

M 4 



184 



PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII* 



" This sentence, in many particulars, 
" was mitigated by Tiberius. The family 
" name, he said, ought not to be abolished, 
" while that of Mark Antony, who appear- 
" ed in arms against his country, as well 
" as that of Julius Antonius, who by his in- 
" trigues dishonoured the house of Augus- 
" tus, subsisted still, and figured in the Ro- 
" man annals. Marcus Piso was left in 
" possession of his civil dignities, and his 
" father's fortune. Avarice, as has been 
u already observed, was not the passion of 
" Tiberius. On this occasion, the disgrace 
incurred by the partiality shown to Plan- 
cina, softened his temper, and made him 
the more willing to extend his mercy to 
" the son. Valerius Messalinus moved, 
" that a golden statue might be erected in 
" the temple of Mars the Avenger. An 
" altar to Vengeance was proposed by Cae- 
" cina Severus. Both these motions were 
" over-ruled by the Emperor. The prin- 
ciple on which he argued, was, that public 
monuments, however proper in cases of 
foreign conquest, were not suited to the 
" present juncture. • Domestic calamity 



u 



a 



CHAP. VII. TRANSLATION* 185 

" should be lamented, and as soon as pos- 
" sible consigned to oblivion." 

The conclusion of the same chapter af- 
fords an example yet more striking of the 
same necessary and happy amplification by 
the translator. 



Addiderat Messalinus, Tiberio et Augus- 
ta, et Antonia, et Agrippince, Drusoque, ob 
vindictam Germanici grates agendas, omise- 
ratque Claudii mentionem ; et Messalinum 
quidem L. Aspernas senatu coram percuncta- 
tus est, an prudens prceterisset ? Ac turn de- 
mum nomen Claudii adscriptum est. Mihi 
quanto plura recentium, sen veterum revolvo, 
tanto magis ludibria rerum mortalium cunctis 
in negotiis obversantur ; quippe fama, spe, 
veneratione potius omnes destinahantur im- 
perio, quam quern f ut urum principem fortuna 
in occulto tenebat. 

" Messalinus added to his motion a vote 
" of thanks to Tiberius and Livia, to An- 
" tonia, Agrippina, and Drusus, for their 
" zeal in bringing to justice the enemies of 



186 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII. 

" Germanicus. The name of Claudius was 
" not mentioned. Lucius Asperanus desired 
" to know, whether that omission was intend- 
" ed. The consequence was, that Claudius 
" was inserted in the vote. Upon an occasion 
" like this, it is impossible not to pause for 
" a moment, to make a reflection that na- 
" turally rises out of the subject. When 
"** we review what has been doing in the 
" world, is it not evident, that in all trans- 
" actions, whether of ancient or of modern 
" date, some strange caprice of fortune turns 
" all human wisdom to a jest ? In the juno 
" ture before us, Claudius figured so little 
" on the stage of public business, that there 
" was scarce a man in Rome, who did not 
" seem, by the voice of fame and the wish- 
" es of the people, designed for the sove- 
" reign power, rather than the very person, 
" whom fate, in that instant, cherished in 
" obscurity, to make him, at a future pe- 
" riod, master of the Roman world." 

So likewise in the following passage, we 
must admire the judgment of the translator 
in forbearing all attempt to rival the bre- 



CHAP. VII. TRANSLATION. 187 

vity of the original, since he knew it could 
not be attained but with the sacrifice both 
of ease and perspicuity : 

Is finis fuit ulciscenda Germanici ?norte, 
?io?i 7nodo apnd illos komims qui tii7nagebani, 
etia7n secutis tetnporibus vario 7m?7iore jac- 
tata ; adeo maxima quceque ambigua stmt, 
dum alii quoquo modo audita pro co77iper- 
tis habent ; alii vera in contrarium vertunt ; 
et gliscit atrwnque posteritate. An. 1. 3. 
c. 19. 

" In this manner ended the inquiry con- 
" cerning the death of Germanicus ; a sub- 
" ject which has been variously represent- 
" ed, not only by men of that day, but by 
" all subsequent writers. It remains, to 
" this hour, the problem of history. A 
" cloud for ever hangs over the most im- 
" portant transactions ; while, on the one 
" hand, credulity adopts for fact the report 
" of the day ; and, on the other, politicians 
" warp and disguise the truth * : between 



* There is a slight impropriety of language in Opposing 
abstract term,, credulity to politicians; even allowing that 



188 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII- 

" both parties two different accounts go 
" down from age to age, and gain strength 
" with posterity." 

In the same parallel with Melmoth and 
with Murphy, as possessing a masterly skill 
in the true principles of the art, must be 
ranked the ingenious translator of Sallust * ; 
whose elaborate work, the version of a 
most difficult author, into easy, pure, cor- 
rect, and often most eloquent language, has 
justly entitled him to a high rank among 
the English translators from the classics. 
Observing in general a very strict fidelity to 
the sense of his original, he saw at once 



the former is a personification : for simple and figurative ex- 
pression do not happily combine. 

* Henry Steuart, Esq; of Allantoic a Scottish gentleman 
of ancient family, who most laudably employs his leisure in the 
elegant and manly pursuits of classical science and polite 
letters, The translation of Sallust is printed for Messrs 
Baldwin, in 2 vols. 4to, 1806. The accompanying essays 
on the life and writings of the historian, with the historical 
and critical notes, contain altogether a great store of ingc* 
nious criticism and classical information. 



CHAP. VII. TRANSLATION. 189 

the fruitlessness of any attempt to imitate 
the abrupt and sententious manner, toge- 
ther with those other prominent characte- 
ristics of the style of Sallust, which, al- 
though the natural partiality to his author 
has led him to vindicate and even to pane- 
gyrise, he well knew the utter impossibility 
of transferring to a language widely diffe- 
rent in its structure and idioms from that 
of the original. This attempt, therefore, 
he has with great judgment altogether aban- 
doned ; limiting himself to the correct ex- 
pression of the sense of his author, in pure 
and eloquent language, possessing all the 
ease of original composition. 

Mr Steuart's translation of the following 
passage appears to me to be executed with 
singular felicity : At populo Romano nun- 
quam ea copia fuit : quia prudentissimus 
quisque negotiosus maxime erat. Ingenium 
nemo sine cor pore exercebat : optimus quisque 
facere quam dicere, et sua ab aliis bene/acta 
laudari, quam ipse aliorum narrare malebat. 
Igitur domi miUtiaque boni mores colebantur. 
Concordia maxima, minima avaritia erat ; jus 



190 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII, 

bonumque apud eos non legibus magis quam 
natiira valebat : jurgia, discordias, iras, si- 
militates cum hostihus exercebant ; cives cum 
civibus de virtute certabani. In suppliciis 
Deorum magnijici^ domi parci, in amicos ji- 
deles erant. Duabus *his artibus audacia in 
hello, ubi pax evenerat? aq-uitate, seque rem- 
que publicum curahant. 



" Among the Romans, the same advan- 
tages have not been enjoyed. Here few 
writers arose during the early ages. The 
most busy scenes constantly called forth 
the brightest talents : and even the di- 
stinctions were long unknown, that se- 
parate active from speculative life. To 
act, rather than to write or speak, was 
then the practice. The Roman of other 
times preferred the glory of deeds which 
he himself should achieve, to that of 
recounting and embellishing the achieve- 
ments of other men. Thus at home and 
abroad the Roman manners were adorn- 
ed with a virtuous simplicity. The voice of 
dissention and the suggestions of avarice, 
were never heard. .Justice and equity 



CHAP. VII. TRANSLATION. 191 

u were then the dictates of nature , and the 
" offspring of sentiment : the terrors of the 
" law were seldom necessary to enforce 
" them. Rancour, animosity and fierce 
" contention, our forefathers reserved for 
" the enemies of their country. Among 
" themselves, it was the struggle of citizens 
" for the palm of superior excellence. In 
" their offerings to the Gods, they obser- 
" ved a pious magnificence ; in their own 
" habitations a modest frugality ; to their 
" friends a fidelity which was unshaken and 
" inviolable. Their maxims were few and 
" simple ; valour in war, and in peace equi- 
" ty and moderation, formed the leading 
" principles of their conduct. By means 
" of these they maintained the honour of 
6i the republic, by communicating to it the 
" energy of their own character." 

In the original of this passage, a brief 
and sententious antithesis runs through the 
whole ; evidently the effect of art and study, 
and therefore unpleasant from the sense of 
the labour which the author has bestowed 
upon it. The translator has with much 



192 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII. 

judgment refrained from all imitation of this 
abrupt and disjointed sententiousness; while 
in correct and eloquent language he has gi- 
ven the full meaning, with more ease than 
belongs to his original. In proof of the 
above remark, let the reader attend particu- 
larly to the version of Ingeniimi nemo sine 
cor pore exercebat — -jurgia, discord ias, iras, 
simultates cam hostibus exercebant : cives cum 
civibus de virtute certabant. 

In his version of the following passage, 
the translator has evinced the same ability, 
with* an equal degree of good taste, in hap- 
pily amplifying, without adding to the 
thought of his author, where it was impos- 
sible to do justice to the original by any imi- 
tation of its compressed and antithetical 
brevity. 

Sed primo ?nagis ambit io quam avaritia 
ammos hominum exercebat, quod tamen vitium 
propius virtutem erat* Nam gloriam, hono- 
rem, imperium, bonus et ignavus ceque sibi 
exoptant. Sed ille vera nititur via ; huic 
quia bonce artes desunt, dolis at que fallacm 



CHAP. VII. TRANSLATION. 193 

contendit. Avaritia pecuniae stadium habet^ 
quam nemo sapiens concupivit : ea quasi ve- 
neris mails imbuta, corpus virile animmnque 
effaminat. Semper injinita, insatiabilis est, 
neque copid neqne inopid minuitur. 

" Jm the first stages of corruption, it was 
" ambition, and not avarice, that laid the 
" strongest hold on the minds of men ; 
" and this in the order of things was natu- 
" rally to be expected. Ambition, being of 
" the two, more a -kin to virtue, its indul- 
" gence may admit of a specious apology. 
" The heights of power, and the prize of 
" glory or honour, alike stimulate the good 
" and the worthless. But the former pur- 
" sue the straight xoad to their object ; the 
" latter, being strangers to every honourable 
" feeling, turn aside into the paths of arti- 
" fice and fraud. Avarice, on the other 
" hand, sets its affection on riches, a pos- 
" session that no wise man ever immode- 
" rately coveted. In avarice there is a sor- 
" did principle, from which ambition is ex- 
" empt. It possesses, so to speak, the most 
" poisonous qualities ; of power not only 

N 



194 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. VII. 

" to effeminate the body, but to depress 
" the faculties of the soul. It is a flame 
" that unceasingly burns; and whether it 
" be fed by plenty or starved by want, con- 
" tinues equally unquenchable. 

If I have said less in praise of this ex- 
cellent translation of a most difficult clas- 
sic author than its uncommon merits 
justly call for, the ingenious author has 
himself in some measure to blame for the 
reserve which he compels me to maintain, 
in speaking of a work in which he has ho- 
noured this Essay with unbounded enco- 
mium. 

The French language admits of a brevity 
of expression more corresponding to that 
of the Latin : and of this D'Alembert has 
given many happy examples in his transla- 
tions from Tacitus. 

Quod si vita suppeditet, principatum divi 
Nervce et imperium Trajani, uberiorem, se~ 
curioremque materiam scnectuti seposui : vara 
temporum felicitate, ubi sentire quce velis 9 et 



CHAP. VII. TRANSLATION. 195 

quce sentias dicer e licet. Praef. ad Hist. " Si 
" les dieux m'accordent des jours, je de~ 
" stine a l'occupation et a la consolation 
" de ma vieillesse, l'histoire interessante et 
" tranquille de Nerva et de Trajan ; terns 
" heureux et rares, ou Ton est libre de pen- 
" ser et de parler." 

And with equal, perhaps superior felicity, 
the same passage is thus translated by 
Rousseau : " Que s'il me reste assez de 
" vie, je reserve pour ma vieillesse la riche 
" et paisible matiere des regnes de Nerva 
" et de Trajan : rares et heureux terns, oil 
" Ton peut penser librement, et dire ce 
" que Ton pense." 

But D'Alembert, from too earnest a de- 
sire to imitate the conciseness of his ori- 
ginal, has sometimes left the sense imper- 
fect. Of this an example occurs in the pas- 
sage before quoted, An. 1. 1. c. % Cum c<2- 
teri nobilium, quanto quis servitio promptior, 
opibus et honoribus extollerentur : the trans- 
lator, too studious of brevity, has not given 
the complete idea of his author, " Le reste 
n 2 



196 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII. 

" des nobles trouvoit dans les richesses et 
" dans les honneurs, la recompense de i'es- 
" clavage." This does not convey the sense 
of the original, " that riches and honours 
M were bestowed on the courtiers, in pro- 
41 portion to their degree* of servility." Om- 
nium consensu capaoc imperii nisi imperiisset> 
Tac hist. 1. 49. " Digne de Tempire au 
" jugement de tout le monde, tant qu'il ne 
" regna pas." This is not the idea of the 
author ; for Tacitus does not mean to say 
that Galba was judged worthy of the em- 
pire till he attained to it ; but that all the 
world would have thought him worthy of 
the empire if he had never attained to it. 

2. The Latin and Greek languages ad- 
mit of inversions which are inconsistent with 
the genius of the English : 

Mr Gordon, injudiciously aiming at an 
imitation of the Latin construction, has gi^- 
ven a barbarous air to his translation of 
Tacitus: " To Pallas, who was by Claudius 
" declared to be the deviser of this scheme, 
" the ornaments of the praetorship, and 



CHAP. VII. TRANSLATION. 197 

" three hundred seventy-five thousand 
" crowns, were adjudged by Bareas Soranus 

" consul designed," An. L 12. " Still to 

" be seen are the Roman standards in the 
" German groves, there, by me, hung up," 
An. lib. 1. " Naturally violent was the spi- 
" rit of Arminius, and now, by the capti- 
" vity of his wife, and by the fate of his 
" child, doomed to bondage though yet un- 
" born, enraged even to distraction." Ibid* 
" But he, the more ardent he found the aft 
u fetions of the soldiers, and the greater the 
" hatred of his uncle, so much the more 
" intent upon a decisive victory, weighed 
" with himself all the methods," &c. lb, 
lib. 2. 

Thus, Mr Macpherson, in his translation 
of Homer, (a work otherwise valuable, as 
containing for the most part a faithful trans- 
fusion of the sense of his author), has ge- 
nerally adopted an inverted construction, 
which is incompatible with the genius of the 
English language. " Tlepolemus, the race 
" of Hercules, — brave in battle and great in 
" arms, nine ships led to Troy, with mag-? 

n3 



198 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VII. 

" nanimous Rhodians filled. Those who 
" dwelt in Rhodes, distinguished in nations 
" three, — who held Lindus, Ialyssus, and 
" white Camirus, beheld him afar. — Their 
" leader in arms was Tlepolemus, renown- 
" ed at the spear, II. L 2. — The heroes the 
" slaughter began. — Alexander first a war- 
" rior slew — Through the neck, by the helm 
" passed the steel. — Iphinous, the son of 
" Dexius, through the shoulder he pierced 
" —to the earth fell the chief in his blood, 
" lb. L 7. Not unjustly we Hector admire; 
" matchless at launching the spear ; to 
" break the line of battle, bold, lb. I. 5. 
" Nor for vows unpaid rages Apollo ; nor 
" solemn sacrifice denied." lb. L 1. 

3. The English language is not incapable 
of an elliptical mode of expression ; but it 
does not admit of it to the same degree as 
the Latin. Tacitus says, Trepida civitas in- 
cusare liberium, for trepida civitas incepit 
incusare Tiberium. We cannot say in Eng- 
lish, " The terrified city to blame Tibe- 
" rius :" And even as Gordon has transla- 
ted these words, the ellipsis is too violent 



€HAP. VII. TRANSLATION. 199 

for the English language ; " hence against 
" Tiberius many complaints." 

II. lib. 1. L 53. 

" For nine days the arrows of the god 
" were darted through the army." The 
elliptical brevity of Mr Macpherson's trans- 
lation of this verse, has no parallel in the 
original ; nor is it agreeable to the English 
idiom : 

" Nine clays rush the shafts of the God." 

n4 



CHAP. VIII. TRANSLATION. 201 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Whether a Poem can be well translated into 
Vrose. 

T rom all the preceding observations re- 
specting the imitation of style, we may de- 
rive this precept, That a translator ought 
always to figure to himself, in what man- 
ner the original author would have expres- 
sed himself, if he had written in the lan- 
guage of the translation. 

This precept leads to the examination, 
and probably to the decision, of a question 
which has admitted of some dispute, Whe- 
ther a poem can be well translated into 
prose ? 



202 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VIII. 

There are certain species of poetry, of 
which the chief merit consists in the sweet- 
ness and melody of the versification. Of 
these it is evident, that the very essence 
must perish in translating them into prose. 
What should we find in the following beau- 
tiful lines, when divested of the melody of 
verse ? 

She said, and melting as in tears she lay, 
In a soft silver stream dissolved away. 
The silver stream her virgin coldness keeps, 
For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps ; 
Still bears the name the hapless virgin bore, 
And bathes the forest where she rang'd before. 

Pope's Windsor Forest. 

But a great deal of the beauty of every 
regular poem, consists in the melody of its 
numbers. Sensible of this truth, many of 
the prose translators of poetry, have attempt- 
ed to give a sort of measure to their prose, 
which removes it from the nature of ordi- 
nary language. If this measure is uniform, 
and its return regular, the composition is 
no longer prose, but blank-verse. If it is 
riot uniform, and does not regularly return 



CHAP. VIII. TRANSLATION. 203 

upon the ear, the composition will be more 
unharmonious, than if the measure had been 
entirely neglected. Of this, Mr Macpher- 
son's translation of the Iliad is a strong ex- 
ample. 

But it is not only by the measure that 
poetry is distinguishable from prose. It is 
by the character of its thoughts and senti- 
ments, and by the nature of that language 
in which they are clothed *. A boldness of 
figures, a luxuriancy of imagery, a frequent 
use of metaphors, a quickness of transition, 
a liberty of digressing ; all these are not 

only allozcable in poetry, but to many spe- 
cies of it, essential. But they are quite un- 
suitable to the character of prose. When 
seen in a prose translation, they appear pre- 
posterous and out of place, because they 
are never found in an original pilose compo- 
sition. 



* " C'est en quoi consiste le grand art de la Poesie, de dire 
f* figurement presque tout ce qu'elle dit." Rapin Reflex, sur la 
Poetique en general, § 29. 



204 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VIII. 

In opposition to these remarks, it may 
be urged, that there are examples of poems 
originally composed in prose, as Fenelon's 
Telemachus. But to this we answer, that 
Fenelon, in composing his Telemachus, has 
judiciously adopted nothing more of the cha- 
racteristics of poetry than what might safely 
be given to a prose composition. His good 
taste prescribed to him certain limits, which 
he was under no necessity of transgressing. 
But a translator is not left to a similar free- 
dom of judgment : he must follow the foot- 
steps of his original. Fenelon's Epic Poem 
is of a very different character from the 
Iliad, the iEneid, or the Gerusalemme Li- 
berata. The French author has, in the con- 
duct of his fable, seldom transgressed the 
bounds of historic probability ; he has spa- 
ringly indulged himself in the use of the Epic 
machinery ; and there is a chastity and so- 
briety even in his language, very different 
from the glowing enthusiasm that characteri- 
zes the diction of the poems we have men- 
tioned : We find nothing in the Telemaque, 
of the Os magna sonaturum. 



CHAP. VIII. TRANSLATION. 205 

The difficulty of translating poetry into 
prose, is different in its degree, according to 
the nature or species of the poem. Didac- 
tic poetry, of which the principal merit con- 
sists in the detail of a regular system, or in 
rational precepts which flow from each other 
in a connected train of thought, will evident- 
ly suffer least by being transfused into prose. 
But every didactic poet judiciously en- 
riches his work with such ornaments as are 
not strictly attached to his subject. In a 
prose translation of such a poem, all that is 
strictly systematic or preceptive may be 
transfused with propriety ; all the rest, 
which belongs to embellishment, will be 
found impertinent and out of place. Of 
this we have a convincing proof in Dryden's 
translation of the valuable poem of Du 
Fresnoy, De Arte Graphica. The didactic 
parts of the poem are translated with be- 
coming propriety ; but in the midst of those 
practical instructions in the art of painting, 
how preposterous appear in prose such pas- 
sages as the following ? 



£06 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VIII. 

" Those things which the poets have 
" thought unworthy of their pens, the paint- 
" ers have judged to be unworthy of their 
" pencils* For both those arts, that they 
" might advance the sacred honours of re* 
" ligion, have raised themselves to heaven ; 
" and having found a free admission into the 
" palace of Jove himself, have enjoyed the 
" sight and conversation of the Gods, whose 
" awful majesty they observe, and whose 
" dictates they communicate to mankind, 
" whom, at the same time, they inspire with 
" those celestial flames which shine so glo- 
** riously in their works." 



" Besides all this, you are to express the 
motions of the spirits, and the affections 
or passions, whose centre is the heart. 
This is that in which the greatest difficul- 
ty consists. Few there are whom Jupi- 
ter regards with a favourable eye in this 
undertaking." 



u 



« 



" And as this part, (the Art of Colour- 
" ing), which we may call the utmost per- 
" fection of Painting, is a deceiving beauty, 



CHAP. VIII. TRANSLATION. 20? 

" but withal soothing and pleasing ; so she 
" has been accused of procuring lovers for 
" her sister (Design), and artfully engaging 
" us to admire her." 

But there are certain species of poetry, 
of the merits of which it will be found 
impossible to convey the smallest idea in a 
prose translation. Such is Lyric poetry, 
where a greater degree of irregularity of 
thought, and a more unrestained exuberance 
of fancy, is allowable than in any other spe- 
cies of composition. To attempt, therefore, 
a translation of a lyric poem into prose, is 
the most absurd of all undertakings ; for 
those very characters of the original which 
are essential to it, and which constitute its 
highest beauties, if transferred to a prose 
translation, become unpardonable blemish- 
es. The excursive range of the sentiments, 
and the play of fancy, which we admire in 
the original, degenerate in the translation 
into mere raving and impertinence. Of 
this the translation of Horace in prose, by 
Smart, furnishes proofs in every page. 



208 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. VIII. 



We may certainly, from the foregoing 
observations, conclude, that it is impossible 
to do complete justice to any species of poe- 
tical composition in a prose translation ; in 
other words, that none but a poet can trans- 
late a poet. 



CHAP. IX. TRANSLATION. 209 



CHAPTER IX. 



Third General Hide — A Translation should 
have all the Ease of Original Composition* 
— Extreme difficulty in the observance of 
this Rule. — Contrasted Instances of Suc- 
cess and Failure. — Of the Necessity of 
sometimes sacrificing one Rule to another. 



It now remains, that we consider the third 
general law of Translation. 

In order that the merit of the original 
work may be so completely transfused as to 
produce its full effect, it is necessary, not 
only that the translation should contain a 
perfect transcript of the sentiments of the 
original, and present likewise a resemblance 



210 PRINCIPLES OF . CHAP. IX. 

of its style and manner ; but, That the trans- 
lation should have all the ease of original 
composition. 

When we consider those restraints with- 
in which a translator finds himself necessa- 
rily confined, with regard to the sentiments 
and manner of his original, it will soon 
appear, that this last requisite includes the 
most difficult part of his task *, It is not 



* " Quand il s'agit de representer dans une autre langue 
-* les choses, les pensees, les expressions, les tours, les tons 
<( d'un ouvrage ; les choses telles qu'elles sont, sans rien ajou- 
11 ter, ni retrancher, ni deplacer ; les pensees dans leurs cou- 
iC leurs, leurs degres, leurs nuances ; les tours, qui donnent le 
iC feu, l'esprit, et la vie au discours ; les expressions natu- 
" relies, flgurees, fortes, riches, gracieuses, dedicates, &c. le 
" tout d'apres un modele qui cammande durement, et qui 
" veut qu'on lui obeisse d*un air aise ; il faut, sinon autant de 
" genie, du moins autant de gout pour bien traduire, que pour 
" composer. Peutetre meme en faut il davantage. L'auteur qui 
<c compose, conduit seulement par une sorte d'instinct toujours 
te libre, et par sa matiere qui lui presente des idees, qu il peut 
** accepter ou rejetter a. son gre, est maitre absolu de ses pen- 
" sees et de ses expressions : si la pensee ne lui convient pas, 
(i ou si l'expressicn ne convient pas a la pensee, il peut rejetter, 
' f Vune et l'autre ; quce desperat traciaia nilescere posse, rclin- 



CHAP. IX. TRANSLATION. 211 

easy for one who walks in trammels, to ex- 
hibit an air of grace and freedom. It is dif- 
ficult, even for a capital painter, to preserve 
in a copy of a picture all the ease and spirit 
of the original ; yet the painter employs pre- 
cisely the same colours, and has no other 
care than faithfully to imitate the touch and 
manner of the picture that is before him. If 
the original is easy and graceful, the copy 
will have the same qualities, in proportion 
as the imitation is just and perfect. The 
translator's task is very different : He uses 
not the same colours with the original, but 
is required to give his picture the same force 
and effect. He is not allowed to copy the 
touches of the original, yet is required, by 

o2 



C( 



quit. Le traducteur n'est maitre de rien ; il est oblige de 
w suivre partout son auteur, et de se plier a toutes ses varia- 
" tions avec une souplesse infinie. Qu'on en juge par la va- 
" riete des tons qui se trouvent necessairement dans une 

" meme sujet, et a plus forte raison dans un meme genre. 

" Quelle idee done ne doit-on pas avoir d'une traduction faite 
11 avec succes ?" 

Batteux, De la Construction Oratoire, Pan % 



212 , PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IX. 

touches of his own, to produce a perfect re- 
semblance. The more he studies a scrupu- 
lous imitation, the less his copy will reflect 
the ease and spirit of the original. How 
then shall a translator accomplish this diffi- 
cult union of ease with fidelity ? To use a 
bold expression, he must adopt the very 
soul of his author, which must speak through 
his own organs *. 



* The following observations by Cowper, though loosely 
thrown out, and a little deficient in precision of thought, 
contain much matter deserving of a translator's attention : 
'/ There are minutiae in every language, which, transfused in- 
" to another, will spoil the version. Such extreme fidelity 
" is in fact unfaithful. Such close resemblanee takes away 
" all likeness. The original is elegant, easy, natural ; the 
" copy is clumsy, constrained, unnatural : To what is this 
" owing ? To the adoption of terms not congenial to your 
" purpose, and of a context such as no man writing an ori- 
te ginal work would make use of. Homer is every thing that 
ft a poet should be. A translation of Homer so made will 
" be every thing a translation of Homer should not be. Be- 
" cause it will be written in no language under heaven. It 
" will be English, and it will be Greek, and therefore it will 
f< be neither. He is the man, whoever he be, (I do not 
" pretend to be that man myself,) he is the man best qua- 
" lifted as a translator of Homer, who has drenched, and 
f c steeped, and soaked himself in the effusions of his genius^ 



CHAP. IX. TRANSLATION. 213 

Let us proceed to exemplify this third 
rule of translation, which regards the attain- 
ment of ease of style, by instances both 
of success and failure. 
o3 



" till he has imbibed their colour to the bone, and who, 
ct when he is thus dyed through and through, distinguishing 
" between what is essentially Greek and what may be ha- 
" bited in English, rejects the former, and is faithful to the 
" latter, as far as the purposes of fine poetry will permit, 
<c and no farther : this, I think, may be easily proved. Ho- 
" mer is every where remarkable either for ease, dignity, or 
" energy of expression ; for grandeur of conception, and a 
" majestic flow of numbers. If we copy him so closely as 
" to make every one of these excellent properties of his ab- 
" solutely unattainable, which will certainly be the effect of 
<e too close a copy, instead of translating, we murder him. 
" Therefore, after all******has said, I still hold freedom 
<c to be indispensible. Freedom I mean with respect to 
<( the expression; freedom so limited, as never to leave be- 
" hind the matter ; but at the same time indulged with a 
ic sufficient scope to secure the spirit, and as much as pos- 
" sible of the manner. I say as much as possible, because 
" an English manner must differ from a Greek one, in order 
" to be graceful, and for this there is no remedy. Can an 
" ungraceful, awkward translation of Homer be a good one ? 
" No : but a graceful, easy, natural, faithful version of him, 
" will not that be a good one? Yes : Allow me but this, and 
(e I insist upon it, that such a one may be produced on my 
" principles, and can be produced on no other." 

Cowper's Letters* 



214 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IX. 

The familiar style of epistolary corre- 
spondence is rarely attainable even in ori- 
ginal composition. It consists in a delicate 
medium between the perfect freedom of or- 
dinary conversation and the regularity of 
written dissertation or narrative. It is ex- 
tremely difficult to attain this delicate me- 
dium in a translation : because the writer 
has neither a freedom of choice in the sen- 
timents, nor in the mode of expressing 
them. Mr Melmoth appears to me to be 
a great model in this respect. His Trans- 
lations of the Epistles of Cicero and of 
Pliny have all the ease of the originals, 
while they present in general a very faith* 
ful transcript of his author's sense. 

" Surely, my friend r , your couriers are a 
set of the most unconscionable fellows. 
Not that they have given me any parti- 
cular offence; but as they never bring 
" me a letter when they arrive here, is it 
" fair j they should always press me for one 
" when they return ?" Melmoth, Cic. Ep. 
10. 20. 



CHAP. IX. TRANSLATION* 21 S 

Praposteros hales tabellarios ; etsi me qui- 
dem non offendunt. Sed tamen cum a me 
discedunt, fiagitant liter 'as, cum ad me veniunt-, 
nullas afferunt. Cic. Ep. 1. 15. ep. It. 

" Is it not more worthy of your mightu 
u ambition, to be blended with your learn- 
" ed brethren at Rome, than to stand the 
" sole great wonder of wisdom amidst a par* 
" eel of paltry provincials t" Melmoth, 
Cic. Ep. 2. 23. 

Velim — ibi malis esse ubi aliquo numero sis, 
quam istkic ubi solus sapere videare. Cic. 
Epist. L L ep. 10. 



" In short, I plainly perceive youtfinnn- 
u ces are in no flourishing situation, and I 
" expect to hear the same account of all your 
" neighbours ; so that famine, my friend, 
" most formidable famine, must be your 
" fate, if you do not provide against it in 
" due time. And since you have been re- 
u duced to sell your horse, e'en mount your 
" mule, (the only animal, it seems, belong** 
" ing to you, which you have not yet sacri^ 

o4 



216 PRINCIPLES OE CHAP. IX. 

" Jiced to your table), and co?ivey yourself 
" immediately to Rome. To encourage you 
" to do so, you shall be honoured with a 
" chair and cushion next to mine, and sit 
" the second great pedagogue in my cele- 
" hrated school." Melmoth, Cic. Ep. 8. 22. 

Video te bona perdidisse : spero idem isU 
hue familiar es tuos. Actum igitur de te est, 
nisi provides. Potes mulo isto quern tibi re- 
liquum dicis esse (quando cantherium come- 
disti) Ro?nam pervehi. Sella tibi erit in 
ludo, tanquam hypodidascalo ; proxima earn 
pulvinus sequitur. Cic. Ep. 1. 9. ep. 18. 



4< 



Are you not a pleasant mortal, to que- 
stion me concerning the fate of those 
" estates you mention, when Balbus had 
" just before been paying you a visit ?" 
Melmoth, Cic, Ep. 8. 24. 

Non tu homo ridiculus es, qui cum Bal- 
bus noster apud tefuerit, ex me quceras quid 
de istis municipiis et agris futurum put em ? 
Cic. Ep. 9. 17. 



CHAP. IX. TRANSLATION. 217 

" And now I have raised your expecta- 
u tions of this piece, I doubt you will 
" be disappointed when it comes to your 
" hands. In the meanwhile, however, you 
" may expect it, as something that will 
" please you : And who knows but it may ?" 
Plin. Ep. 8. 3. 

Erexi expect at ionem tuam ; quam vereor 
ne destituat oratio in manus sump t a. Inte- 
rim tamen, tanquam placituram, et fortasse 
placebit, expecta. Plin. Ep. 8. 3. 

" I consent to undertake the cause which 
" you so earnestly recommend to me ; but 
" as glorious and honourable as it may 
" be, I will not be your counsel without a 
" fee. Is it possible, you will say, that my 
" friend Pliny should be so mercenary ? In 
u truth it is ; and I insist upon a reward, 
" which will do me more honour than the 
" most disinterested patronage." Plin. 
Ep. 6. 23. 

Impense petis ut agam causam pertinentem 
ad curam tuam, pulchram alioquin et famo- 



218 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IX. 

sam. Faciam, sed non gratis. Qui fieri 
potest (inquis) ut non gratis tu ? Potest t 
exigam enim mercedem honest ior em gratuito 
patrocinio. Plin. Ep. 8. 3. 

To these examples of the ease of episto- 
lary correspondence, I add a passage from 
one of the orations of Cicero, which is yet 
in a strain of greater familiarity : " A cer- 
" tain mechanic— -What's his name ? — Oh, 
" Vm obliged to you for helping me to it: 
" Yes, I mean Polycletus*" Melmoth. 

Artificem-^quemnam ? Recte admones. 
Poh/cletum esse ducebant. Cicero, Orat. 2, 
in Verrem. 

Isr the preceding instances from Mr Mel- 
moth, the words of the English translation 
which are marked in Italics, are those which, 
in my opinion, give it the ease of original 
composition. 

Sometimes, though very rarely, Mr Mel- 
moth fails to rival the ease and spirit of his 
model. The following passage from one of 



CHAP. IX. TRANSLATION. 219 

Pliny's Epistles has an uncommon felicity 
of expression in the original. Pliny thus jocu- 
larly remonstrates with his friend Prsesens, 
for passing so much of his time in the coun- 
try : Quonsque regnahis ? Quousque vigilabis 
quum voles? dowries quamdiu voles? quous* 
que calcei nusquam t togaferiata? liber totos 
dies ? Temp us est te reviser e molest ias nostras, 
vel ob hoc solum, ne voluptates istae satietate 
languescant. Ep. lib. vii. 3. 

" Are you obstinately bent to live your 
" own master, and sleep and rise when you 
" think proper ? Will you never change 
your country dress for the habit of the 
town, but spend your whole days unem- 
barrassed by business ? It is time, how- 
" ver, you should revisit our scene of hurry, 
" were it only that your rural pleasures may 
" not grow languid by enjoyment," MeU 
moth's Pliny. 

The looseness of this version, and at the 
same time its insipidity, when contrasted 
with the happy ease and familiarity of the 
original, would almost incline- us to suspect, 



u 



u 



220 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IX. 

that in this instance the translator had not 
fully apprehended his author's meaning. 
The sense, at least, if not the full spirit of 
the passage, may be thus more faithfully 
given : 

" How long must you enjoy the royal 
" privilege of idleness — sleep when you 
" please, and wake when you please — 
" saunter the livelong day, with your book 
" in your hand ; in all the comfort of an old 
" coat, and a pair of easy shoes ; your town 
" accoutrements and dress-pumps gone, 
" the Lord knows where, and not to be 
" found for love or money ? — For heaven's 
" sake, come and taste of our turmoils : 
" seek something to plague you, were it 
" only to give a zest to your happiness." 

But while a translator endeavours to trans- 
fuse into his work all the ease of the origi- 
nal, the most correct taste is requisite to 
prevent that ease from degenerating into li- 
centiousness. I have, in treating of the imi- 
tation of style and manner, given some ex- 
amples of the want of this taste. The most 
licentious of all translators was Mr Thomas 



CHAP. IX. TRANSLATION. 221 

Brown, of facetious memory, in whose 
translations from Lucian we have the most 
perfect ease ; but it is the ease of Billings- 
gate and of Wapping. I shall contrast a 
few passages of his translation of this au- 
thor, with those of another translator, who 
has given a faithful transcript of the sense 
of his original, but from an over-scrupu- 
lous fidelity has failed a little in point of 
ease. 

■Gnathon. " What now! Timon, do 
" you strike me ? Bear witness, Hercules ! 
" O me, O me ! But I will call you into 
" the Areopagus for this. Timon, Stay a 
" little only, and you may bring me in 
*f guilty of murder*." Francklin's Lu- 
cian. 

Gnathon : " Confound him ! what a 
" blow he has given me ! AVhat's this for, 



* TN. T< tSto j Tctiag u Tiftm ; {Axgrvpoftxi' u HpctxXiti;' iov. 
lev. HpoKxXiipou <ri r^xv^ccrog uq Aguov 7rxyov TIM. Keel p//)v uv 

yi (UKPW iTT^PO^VVY,^ (pOVOV Tcl%X TT^KiKX^YI [Ai. LUCIAN, Tu 

mon. 



222 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IX. 

" old Touchwood ? Bear witness, Hercules, 
" that he has struck me. I warrant you, I 
" shall make you repent of this blow. I'll 
" indite you upon an action of the case, and 
" bring you coram nobis for an assault and 
" battery." Timon. u Do, thou confound- 
" ed law-pimp, do ; but if thou stayest one 
" minute longer, I'll beat thee to pap. I'll 
" make thy bones rattle in thee, like three 
" blue beans in a blue bladder. Go, stink- 
" ard, or else I shall make you alter your 
" action, and get me indicted for manslaugh- 
u ter." Timoii) trans, by Brown in Dryden's 
Lucian. 

" On the whole, a most perfect charac- 
" ter ; we shall see presently, with all his 
" modesty, what a bawling he will make." 
Francklin's Liician, Timon*. 

" In fine, he's a person that knows the 
" world better than any one, and is extreme- 



* Kctt aXas 7relv(ro<pov re %$(*.*> kcci wamcj&kl axpfiky x*i noon- 



CHAP. IX. TRANSLATION. 228 

" ly well acquainted with the whole Ency- 
<c clopadia of villany ; a true elaborate fi- 
" nished rascal ; and for all he appears so 
" demure now, that you'd think butter 
" would not melt in his mouth, yet I shall 
u soon make him open his pipes, and roar 
" like a persecuted bear," Dryden's Zz/- 
cian, Timon. 

" He changes his name, and instead of 
" Byrria, Dromo, or Tibius, now takes the 
" name of Megacles, or Megabyzus, or Pro- 
" tarchus, leaving the rest of the expectants 
" gaping and looking at one apother in si- 
" lent sorrow." Francklin's Lucian, Ti- 
inon f • 

" Straight he changes his name, so that 
*' the rascal, who the moment before had 
" no other title about the house, but, you 
8 son of a whore, you bulk-begotten cur, 
" you scoundrel, must now be called his 



* Are) t» tews Ilvpfo, q Aftopwvos, y T</3<a, MtyeutXife, ij Mtyclfiv- 
Ms *7rcfite7r«vTxs xevrobbtTrm, §c. Lvcian, Timon, 



224 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. IX. 

" worship, his excellency, and the Lord 
" knows what. The best on't is, that this 
" mushroom puts all these fellows noses out 
" of joint." &c. Dryden's Lucian, Ti- 

971011. 

From these contrasted specimens we may 
decide, that the one translation of Lucian 
errs perhaps as much on the score of re- 
straint, as the other on that of licentious- 
ness. The preceding examples from Mel- 
moth point out, in my opinion, the just me- 
dium of free and spirited translation, for 
the attainment of which the most correct 
taste is requisite. 

If the order in which I have classed the 
three general laws of translation be their 
just and natural arrangement, which I 
think will hardly be denied, it will follow, 
that in all cases where a sacrifice is necessa- 
ry to be made of one of those laws to ano- 
ther, a due regard ought to be paid to their 
rank and comparative importance. The 
different genius of the languages of the ori- 
ginal and translation, will sometimes make 



CHAP. IX, TRANSLATION. 225 

it necessary to depart from the manner of 
the original, in order to convev a faithful 
picture of the sense ; but it would be high- 
ly preposterous to depart, in any case, from 
the sense, for the sake of imitating the man- 
ner. Equally improper would it be, to sa- 
crifice either the sense or manner of the 
original, (if these can be preserved consist- 
ently with purity of expression), to a fancied 
ease or superior gracefulness of composition. 
This last is the fault of the French transla- 
tions of D' Ablancourt, an author otherwise 
of very high merit. His versions are admi- 
rable, so long as we forbear to compare them 
with the originals : they are models of ease, 
of elegance, and perspicuity ; but he has 
considered these qualities as the primary re- 
quisites of translation, and both the sense 
and manner of his originals are sacrificed, 
without scruple, to their attainment *, 



* The following apology made by D'Ablancourt of his own 
version of Tacitus, contains, however, many just observa- 
tions ; from which, with a proper abatement of that extreme 
liberty for which he contends, every translator may derive 
much advantage. 

P 



226 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. IX. 

Of Tacitus he thus remarks ; " Comme il considere sou- 
t{ vent les choses par quelque biais etranger, il laisse quel- 
Sl quefois ses narrations imparfaites, ce qui engendre de F- 
" obscurite dans ses ouvrages, outre la multitude des fautes 
" qui s'y rencontrent, et le peu de lumiere qui nous reste de la 
" plupart des choses qui y sont traitees. II ne faut done pas 
u s'etonner s'il est si difficile a. traduire, puisqu'il est meme 
e£ difficile a. entendre. D'ailleurs il a accoutume de meler dans 
" une meme periode, et quelquefois dans une meme expression 
<c diverses pensees qui ne tiennent point Tune a l'autre, et 
" dont il faut perdre une partie, comme dans les ouvrages 
" qu'on polit, pour pouvoir exprimer le reste sans choquer 
" les delicatesses de notre langue, et la justesse du raisonne- 
" ment. Car on n'a pas le meme respect pour mon Francois 
<( que pour son Latin ; et Ton ne me pardonneroit pas des 
Ci choses, qu'on admire souvent chez lui, et s'il faut ainsi dire, 
<c qu'on revere. Par tout ailleurs je l'ai euivi pas a pas, et 
" plutot en esclave qu'en compagnon ; quoique peutetre je me 
" pusse donner plus de liberte, puisque je ne traduis pas un 
cc passage, mais un livre, de qui toutes les parties doivent 
C( etre unies ensemble, et comme fondues en un meme corps. 
<c D'ailleurs, la diversity qui se trouve dans les langues est 
fC si grande, tant pour la construction et la forme des periodes, 
ct que pour les figures et les autres ornemens, qu'il faut a tous 
tc coups changer d'air et de visage, si Ton ne veut faire un 
" corps monstrueux, tel que celui des traductions ordinaires, 
" qui sont ou mortes et languissantes, ou confuses et em- 
" brouillees, sans aucun ordre ni agrement. II faut done 
*' prendre garde qu'on ne fasse perdre la grace a son auteur 
(e par trop de scrupule, et que de peur de lui manquer de foi 
" en quelque chose, on ne lui soit infidele en tout : principale- 
" ment quand on fait un ouvrage qui doit tenir lieu de 
" l'original, et qu'on ne travaille pas pour faire entendre aux 
" jfcunes gens le Grec ou le Latin. Car on sait que les ex- 



CHAP. IX. TRANSLATION, 22/ 

" pressions hardies ne sont point exactes, parceque la justesse 
" est ennemie de la grandeur, comme il se voit dans la pein- 
" ture et dans l'ecriture ; mais la hardiesse du trait en supplee le 
" defaut, et elles sont trouvees plus belles de la sorte, que si 
" elles etoient plus regulieres. D'ailleurs il est difficile d'etre 
" bien exact dans la traduction d'un auteur qui ne Test point. 
(C Souvent on est contraint d'aj outer quel que chose a. sa pen- 
<e see pour Teclaircir ; quelquefois il faut en retrancher une 
" partie, pour donner jour a tout le reste. Cependant, cela 
" fait que les meilleurs traductions paroissent les moins fide- 
" les ; et un critique de notre terns a remarque deux mille 
" fautes dans le Plutarque d'Amyot, et un autre presqu'autant 
" dans les traductions d'Erasme ; peutetre pour ne pas sa- 
" voir que la diversite des langues et des styles oblige a des 
" traits tout differens, parceque ^Eloquence est une chose si 
" delicate, quit nefaut quelquefois quune syllabe pour la cor* 
" rompre. Car du reste, il n'y a point d'apparence que deux 
*' si grands hommes se soient abuses en tant de lieux, quoi- 
" qu'il ne soit pas etrange qu'on se puisse abuser en quelque 
e{ endroit. Mais tout le monde n est pas capable de juger 
,c d'une traduction, quoique tout le monde s'en attribue la 
" connoissance ; et ici comme ailleurs, la m?,xime d'Aristote 
" devroit servir de regie, qu'il faut croire chacun en son 
m art." 



p2 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION. 229 



CHAPTER X. 



It is less difficult to attain the Ease of Origi- 
nal Composition in Poetical, than in Prose 
Translation. — Lyric Poetry admits of the 
greatest Liberty of Translation. — Examples 
distinguishing Paraphrase from Transla- 
tion, — from Dry den , Lowth, Fontenelle^ 
Prior, Anguillara, Hughes. 



J t may perhaps appear paradoxical to as- 
sert, that it is less difficult to give to a poe- 
tical translation all the ease of original com- 
position, than to give the same degree of 
ease to a prose translation. Yet the truth 
of this assertion will be readily admitted, 
if assent is given to that observation, which 
I before endeavoured to illustrate, viz. That 

p 3 



230 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. X. 

a superior degree of liberty is allowed to 
a poetical translator in amplifying, retrench- 
ing from, and embellishing his original, 
than to a prose translator. For without 
some portion of this liberty, there can be 
no ease of composition ; and where the 
greatest liberty is allowable, there that ease 
will be most apparent, as it is less difficult 
to attain to it *. 

For the same reason, among the different 
species of poetical composition, the lyric is 



* " It is almost impossible/' says Dry den, in reference to 
his own poetical translations, " to translate verbally, and 
" at the same time to translate well. The verbal copier is 
Ci encumbered with so many difficulties at once, that he can 
" never disentangle himself from all. He is to consider, at 
e( the same time, the thought of the author, and his words, 
ec and to find out the counterpart to each in another Ian* 
if guage ; and besides this, he is to confine himself to the 
ff compass of numbers and the slavery of rhyme. It is 
fe like dancing on ropes with fettered legs : A man can shun 
" a fall by using caution, but the gracefulness of motion is 
" not to be expected : and when we have said the best of it, 
" it is but a foolish task : for no sober man would put mm* 
" self into a danger, for the applause of escaping without 
f( breaking his neck." 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION. 231 

that which allows of the greatest liberty in 
translation ; as a freedom both of thought 
and expression is agreeable to its character. 
Yet even in this, which is the freest of all 
species of translation, we must guard against 
licentiousness ; and perhaps the more so, 
that we are apt to persuade ourselves that 
the less caution is necessary. The difficulty 
indeed is, where so much freedom is allow- 
ed, to define what is to be accounted licen- 
tiousness in poetical translation. A mo- 
derate liberty of amplifying and retrenching 
the ideas of the original, has been granted 
to the translator of prose ; but is it allow- 
able, even to the translator of a lyric poem, 
to add new images and new thoughts to 
those of the original, or to enforce the sen- 
timents by illustrations which are not in 
the original ? As the limits between free 
translation and paraphrases are more easily 
perceived than they can be well defined, 
instead of giving a general answer to this 
question, I think it safer to give my opinion 
upon particular examples. 



p4 



23£ PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. X* 

Dr Lowth has adapted to the present 
times, and addressed to his own country- 
men, a very noble imitation of the 6th ode 
of the 3d book of Horace : Delict a ma jo- 
rum immeritus lues, &c. The greatest part 
of this composition is of the nature of pa- 
rody ; but in the version of the following 
stanza there is perhaps but a slight excess 
of that liberty which may be allowed tQ 
the translator of a lyric poet : 

Motus doceri gaudet Iojucos 
Matura virgo, etjingitur artubus 
Jam nunc, et incestos amores 
De tenero meditaiur ungui. 

The ripening maid is vers'd in every dangerous art, 
That ill adorns the form, while it corrupts the heart ; 

Practis'd to dress, to dance, to play, 

In wanton mask to lead the way, 
To move the pliant limbs, to roll the luring eye ; 
With Folly's gayest partizans to vie 

In empty noise and vain expence ; 

,To celebrate with flaunting air 

The midnight revels of the fair : 
Studious of every praise, but virtue, truth, and seiise> 



©HAP, X. TRANSLATION. 238 

Here the translator has indeed superadd- 
ed no new images or illustrations ; but he 
has, in two parts of the stanza, given a mo- 
ral application which is not in the original : 
" That ill adorns the form, while it cor- 
" rupts the heart •" and " Studious of 
" every praise, but virtue, truth, and sense." 
These moral lines are unquestionably a very 
high improvement of the original ; but they 
seem to me to exceed the liberty allowed 
in a professed translation of a poem. 

In that fine translation by Dry den, of the 
29th ode of the 3d book of Horace, which 
upon the whole is paraphrastical, the ver- 
sion of the two following stanzas has no 
more licence than what is justifiable : 



Fortuna scevo Icetd negotio, et 
Ludurr- insolentem ludere pertinax, 
Transmutat incertos konores, 
Nunc mihi, nunc alii benigna* 

Laudo manentem : si celeres quatii 

Pennas, resigno quae dedit : et mea 

Virtute me involvo, prohamque 

Pauperiem sine dote qucero* 



234 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP.X. 

Fortune, who with malicious joy 

Does man, her slave, oppress, 
Proud of her office to destroy. 

Is seldom pleas'd to bless. 
Still various and inconstant still, 
But with an inclination to be ill, 
Promotes, degrades, delights in strife, 
And makes a lottery of life. 
I can enjoy her while she's kind ; 
But when she dances in the wind, 

And shakes her wings, and will not stay, 

I puff the prostitute away : 
The little or the much she gave is quietly resigned ; 

Content with poverty, my soul I arm, 
And Virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm. 

The celebrated verses of Adrian, addressed 
to his Soul, have been translated and imi- 
tated by many different writers. 

Animula, vagula, blandula, 
Hospes, comesque corporis I 
Quae nunc abibis in loca, 
Pallidula, frigida, nudula, 
Nee ut soles dabis joca ? 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION. 235 

By Casaubon. 

'Ezvn xxi eroti^yi rapxros, 

Ho7 VVV TCthXlV iXiVTiXl, 

Apzvvig, yos^atre xxt <rx.tx, 
Ova' oix 7rxp6$ rpv(pnrseU ; 

Except in the fourth line, where there is a 
slight change of epithets, this may be term- 
ed a just translation, exhibiting both the 
sense and manner of the original. 

By Fontenelle. 

Ma petite ame, ma mignonne, 

Tu t'en vas done, ma fille^ et Dieu sache cm tu vas. 

Tu pars seulette : nue, et tremblotante, helas! 

Que deviendra ton humeur folichonne ? 

Que deviendront tant de jolis ebats ? 

The French translation is still more faith- 
ful to the original, and exhibits equally with 
the former its spirit and manner. 

The following verses by Prior are certain- 
ly a great improvement upon the original ; 



236 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. X. 



by a most judicious and happy amplification 
of the sentiments, (which lose much of their 
effect in the Latin, from their extreme com- 
pression) ; nor do they, in itiy opinion, ex- 
ceed the liberty of poetical translation. 



Poor little pretty fluttering thing, 

Must we no longer live together ? 
And do'st thou prune thy trembling wing, 

To take thy flight, thou know'st not whither ? 

The hum'rous vein, the pleasing folly, 

Lies all neglected, all forgot ; 
And pensive, wav'ring melancholy, 

Thou dread'st and hop'st thou know'st not what, 

Mr Pope's " Dying Christian to his 
" soul," which is modelled on the verses 
of Adrian, retains so little of the thoughts 
of the original, and substitutes in their place 
a train of sentiments so different, that it 
cannot even be called a paraphrase^ but falls 
rather under the description of imitation. 

The Italian version of Ovid in ottava rima, 
by Anguillara, is a work of great poetical 
merit; but is scarcely in any part to be re- 
garded as a translation of the original. It 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION. 237 

is almost entirely paraphrastical. The Ita- 
lian poet is often extremely happy in his 
amplifications ; of which I shall give two re- 
markable examples. When Polyphemus 
discovers Galatea in company with his rival 
Acis, he utters a hideous cry : 

Tantaque vox quantum Cyclops iratus habere 
Debuit, ilia fuit : clamore perhorruit Mtna. 

Met. lib. i£, 

Tremo per troppo horrore Etna : e Tifeo 
Fece maggior la fiamma uscir del monte > 
E Pachino, e Pelom, e Lilibeo, 
Quasi attufFar nel mar l'altera fronte : 
Cadde il martel di man nel monte Etneo 
Al re di Lenno, a Sterope e a Bronte : 
Fuggir fiere, e augei del lor ricetto ; 
E si strinse ogni madre il %lio al petto, 

Every thing in this passage, except the 
first line, is additional imagery with which 
Anffuillara has embellished his original * 
but he must be a tasteless reader who is in* 
sensible to the high merit of those additions, 
The exquisitely tender image in the last line, 
contrasted with t|ie pictures of horror in 



238 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. X. 

those immediately preceding, affords a fine 
example of the union of the sublime and 
beautiful. 

In the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, the 
simple ideas announced in these two lines, 

Tempore crevit amor : taedae quoque jure co'issent ; 
Sed vetuere patres quod non potuere vetare, 

are the subject of the following paraphrase, 
which is as beautiful in its composition, as 
it is unbounded in the licence of its amplifi- 
cation : 

Era l'amor cresciuto a poco a poco 
Secondo erano in lor cresciuti gli anni : 
E dove prima era trastullo, e gioco, 
Scherzi, corrucci, e fanciulleschi inganni, 
Quando fur giunti a quella eta di foco 
Dove comincian gli amorosi affanni 
Che l'alma nostra ha si leggiadro il manto 
E che la Donna e'l huom s'amano tanto ; 

Era tanto l'amor, tanto il desire, 
Tanta la fiamma, onde ciascun ardea : 
Che 1' uno e 1' altro si vedea morire, 
Se pietoso Himeneo non gli giungea. 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION. 239 

E tanto era maggior d'ambi il martire, 
Quanto il voler de l'un Taltro scorge. 
Ben ambo de le nozze eran content!, 
Ma no'l sofir iro i loro empi parenti. 

Eran fra i padri lor pochi anni avanti 
Nata una troppo cruda inimicitia : 
E quanto amore, e f e s'hebber gli amanti, 
Tanto regno ne' padri odid e malitia. 
Gli huomini della terra piu prestanti, 
Tentar pur di ridurli in amicitia ; 
E vi s'affaticar piu volte assai ; 
Ma non vi sepper via ritrovar mai, 

Quei padri., che fra lor fur si infedeli 
Vetaro a la fanciulla, e al giovinetto, 
A due si belli amanti, e si fedel.i 
Che non dier lucgo al desiato affetto : 
Ahi padri irragionevoli e crudeli % 
Perche togliete lor tanto diletto ; 
S'ogn'un di loro il suo desio corregge 
Con la terrena, e la celeste legge ? 



* A striking resemblance to this beautiful apostrophe " Ahi 
?' padri irragionevoli," is found in the beginning of Moncrif's 
Romance d' Alexis et Alls, a ballad which the French justly 
consider as a model of tenderness and elegant simplicity; 



240 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. X. 

sfortunati padri, ove tendete, 
Qual ve gli fa destin tener disgiunti ? 
Perche vetate, quel che non potete ? 
Che gli animi saran sempre congiunti ? 
Ahij che sara di voi, se gli vedrete 
Per lo vostro rigor restar defunti ? 
Ahi, che co' vostri non sani consigli 
Procurate la morte a* vostri figli ! 



Pourquoi rompre leur manage, 

Medians parens ? 
lis auroient fait si bon menage 

A tous momens ! 
Que sert d'avoir bagues et dentelle 

Pour se parer ? 
Ah ! la richesse la plus belle 

Est de s'aimer. 

Quand on a commence la vie 

Disant ainsi : 
Oui, vous serez toujours ma mie, 

Vous mon ami : 
Quand l'age augmente encor Ten vie 

De s'entreumr> 
Qu'avec un autre on nous marie 

Vaut mieux mourir. 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION. 241 

In the following poem by Mr Hughes, 
which the author has entitled an imitation 
of the 16th ode of the 2d book of Horace, 
the greatest part of the composition is a just 
and excellent translation, while the rest is a 
free paraphrase or commentary on the origi- 
nal. I shall mark in Italics, all that I consi- 
der as paraphrastical : the rest is a just trans- 
lation, in which the writer has assumed no 
more liberty, than was necessary to give 
the poem the easy air of an original com* 
position. 

I. 

Indulgent Quiet ! Pow'r serene, 
Mother of Peace, and Joy, and Love, 
O say, thou calm, propitious Queen, 

Say, in what solitary grove, 
Within what hollow rock, or winding cell, 

By human eyes unseen, 
Like some retreated Druid dost thou dwell ? 

And why, illusive Goddess ! why, 

When we thy mansion would surround, 
Why dost thou lead us through enchanted ground, 
To mock our vain research, anflfrom our wishes fly 9 



242 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. X. 



II. 

The wand'ring sailors, pale with fear, 
For thee the Gods implore, 

When the tempestuous sea runs high, 
And when through all the dark, benighted sky, 

No friendly moon or stars appear, 

To guide their steerage to the shore : 

For thee the weary soldier prays, 

Furious in fight the sons of Thrace, 
And Medes, that wear majestic by their side 

A full-charg'd quiver's decent pride, 
Gladly with thee would pass inglorious days-, 

Renounce the warrior's tempting praise, 

And buy thee, if thou might'st be sold, 
With gems, and purple vests, and stores of plunder'd gold. 

III. 

But neither boundless wealth, nor guards that wait 

Around the Consul's honour'd gate. 
Nor antichambers with attendants fill'd, 
The mind's unhappy tumults can abate, 

Or banish sullen cares, that fly 

Across the gilded rooms of state, 

And their foul nests- like swallows build 
Close to the palace-roofs and tow'rs that pierce the sky ? 

Much less will Nature's modest wants supply : 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION. 243 

And happier lives the homely swain, 
Who in some cottage, far from noise, 
His few paternal goods enjoys ; 
Nor knows the sordid lust of gain, 
Nor with Fear's tormenting pain 
His hovering sleep destroys. 

IV. 

Vain man ! that in a narrow space 
At endless game projects the darting spear ! 

For short is life's uncertain race ; 

Then why, capricious mortal ! why 

Dost thou for happiness repair 
To distant climates and a foreign air ? 

Fool ! from thyself thou canst not fly, 

Thyself the source of all thy care : 
So flies the wounded stag, provok'd with pain, 

Bounds o'er the spacious downs in vain; 

The feather 'd torment sticks within his side. 

And from the smarting wound a purple tide 
Marks all his way with blood, and dyes the grassy plain, 

V. 

But swifter far is execrable Care 

Than stags, or winds, that through the skies 
Thick-driving snows and gather'd tempests bear : 
Pursuing Care the sailing ship out-flies. 

«2 



244 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. X. 

Climbs the tall vessels painted sides ,' 
Nor leaves arm'd squadrons in the field, 
But with the marching horseman rides, 
And dwells alike in courts and camps, and makes all places 
yield. 

VI. 

Then, since no state's completely blest, 
Let's learn the bitter to allay 
With gentle mirth, and, wisely gay, 
Enjoy at least the present day, 

And leave to Fate the rest. 
Nor with vain fear of ills to come 
Anticipate th s appointed doom. 
Soon did Achilles quit the stage; 
The hero fell by sudden death ; 
While Tithon to a tedious, wasting age 

Drew his protracted breath. 
And thus, old partial Time, my friend, 
Perhaps unask'd, to worthless me 
Those hours of lengthen'd life may lenct* 
Which he'll refuse to thee. 

VII. 

Thee shining wealth, and plenteous joys surround. 
And all thy fruitful fields around 
Unnumber'd herds of cattle stray ; 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION. 245 

Thy harness'd steeds with sprightly voice, 
Make neighbouring vales and hills rejoice, 
While smoothly thy gay chariot flies o'er the swift-mea- 
sur'd way. 
To me the stars with less profusion kind, 
An humble fortune have assign'd, 
And no untuneful Lyric vein, 
But a sincere contented mind 
That can the vile, malignant crowd disdain *. 



* Otium divos rogat in patenti 
Prensus iEgeo, simul atra nubes 
Condidit Lunam, neque certa fulgent 
Sidera nautis. 

Otium bello furiosa Thrace, 
Otium Medi pharetra decori, 

Grosphe, non gemmis, neque purpura venale, nee 
auro. 

Non enim gaza?, neque Consularis 
Summovet lictor miseros tumultus 
Mentis, et curas laqueata circum 
Tecta volantes. 

Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum 
Splendet in mensa tenui salinum : 
Nee leves somnos Timor -aut Cupidii 
Sordidus aufert. 

q3 



r 

246 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. X, 

On the subject of poetical translation, no 
writer has thrown together more sound 
sense, and just observation, in a small com- 
pass, than Mr Dryden : and with his re- 
marks, which go near to exhaust the subject, 
I shall conclude this chapter : 



Quid brevi fortes jaculamur aevQ 
Multa ? quid terras alio calentes 
Sole mutamus ? Patriae quis exuj, 
Se quoque fugit ? 

Scandit seratas vitiosa naves 
Cura, nee turmas equitum relinquit, 
Qcyor cervis, et agente nimbos 
Ocyor Euro. 

Laetus in praesens animus, quod ultra es> 
Oderit curare ; et amara lento 
Temperat risu. Nihil est ab omni 
Parte beatum. 

Abstulit clarum cita mors Achillem : 
Longa Tithonum minuit senectus ; 
Et mihi forsan, tibi quod negarit, 
Porriget hora. 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION. 247 

" No man is capable of translating poe- 
" try, who, besides a genius to that art, is 
" not a master, both of his author's Ian- 
" guage and of his own : nor must we un- 
" derstand the language only of the poet, 
" but his particular turn of thoughts and 
" expression, which are the characters that 
" distinguish, and as it were, individuate 
" him from all other writers. When we are 
" come thus far, it is time to look into our- 
" selves, to conform our genius to his, to 
" give his thoughts either the same turn, if 
" ovir tongue will bear it, or if not, to vary 
" but the dress, not to alter or destroy the 
" substance. The like care must be taken 
" of the more outward ornaments, the 



Te greges centum, Siculseque circum 
Mugiunt vaccae ; tibi tollit hinnitum 
Apta quadrigis equa : te bis Afro 
Murice tinctas. 

Vestiunt lanae : mihi parva rura, et 
Spiritum Graiae tenuem Camcenae 
Parca non mendax dedit, et malignum 
Spernere vulgus. 

Hor. Od. 2. 16. 
Q4 



248 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. X. 

" words. When they appear, which is but sel- 
" dom, literally graceful, it were an injury 
" to the author, that they should be chan- 
ct ged : but since every language is so full 
" of its own proprieties, that what is beauti- 
" ful in one is often barbarous, nay some- 
c * times nonsense in another, it would be 
" unreasonable to limit a translator to the 
" narrow compass of his author's words. It 
" is enough if he choose out some expres- 
a sion which does not vitiate the sense. I 
" suppose he may stretch his chain to such 
a a latitude ; but by innovation of thoughts, 
u methinks, he breaks it. By this means, 
" the spirit of an author may be transfused, 
" and yet not lost : and thus, it is plain, 
" that the reason alleged by Sir John Den- 
" ham has no farther force than to expres- 
" sion : for thought, if it be translated truly, 
" cannot be lost in another language ; but 
u the words that convey it to our apprehen- 
" sion, (which are the image and ornament 
" of that thought), may be so ill chosen, as 
" to make it appear in an unhandsome 
" dress, and rob it of its native lustre. 
<♦ There is, therefore, a liberty to be allow- 



CHAP. X. TRANSLATION, 249 

" ed for the expression : Neither is it ne- 
" cessary that words and lines should be 
" confined to the measure of their original. 
" The sense of an author, generally speak- 
" ing, is to be sacred and inviolable. If the 
" fancy of Ovid be luxuriant, it is his cha- 
" racter to be so ; and if I retrench it, he is 
" no longer Ovid. It will be replied, that 
" he receives advantage by this lopping off 
" his superfluous branches ; but I rejoin, 
" that a translator has no such right. When 
" a painter copies from the life, I suppose 
a he has no privilege to alter features and 
" lineaments, under pretence that his pic- 
a ture will look better; perhaps the face 
u which he has drawn would be more exact, 
" if the eyes or nose were altered ; but it 
" is his business to make it resemble the 
a original. In two cases only there may a 
" seeming difficulty arise ; that is, if the 
" thought be either notoriously trivial or dis- 
f< honest: but the same answer ^will serve 
a for both, That then they ought not to be 
" translated. 



-Et quae 



Desperes tractata nitescere posses relinquaSi" 
Drydens Vref. to Trans, from Ovids Epistles. 



CHAP, XI. TRANSLATION, 251 



CHAPTER XL 



Of the Translation of Idioms.— -General 
Idioms, — Idiomatic Phrases. — Examples 
from Spelman, Smollefs Gil Bias, Cotton, 
Echard, Sterne. — Injudicious Use of Idi- 
oms in the Translation, which do not cor- 
respond with the Age or Country of the 
Original. — ■ Idiomatic Phrases sometimes 
incapable oj Translation. 



V T hile a translator endeavours to give 
to his work all the ease of original com- 
position, the chief difficulty he has to 
encounter will be found in the translation 
of idioms, or those turns of expression 
which do not belong to universal grammar, 
but of which every language has its own. 



252 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

that are exclusively proper to it. It will 
be easily understood, that when I speak of 
the difficulty of translating idioms, I do not 
mean those peculiar phrases in all languages 
of which the sense is not accurately con- 
veyed by the literal meaning : As, for ex- 
ample, the French phrase, tin homme bien ?ie, 
which we see often translated, a man well 
born, or of a good family ; instead of a man of 
good natural dispositions : for a mistake in 
phrases of this kind only shews the trans- 
lator's insufficient knowledge of the lan- 
guage from which he translates. Neither 
do I mean those general modes of arrange- 
ment or construction which regulate a whole 
language, and which may not be common 
to it with other tongues : As, for example, 
the placing the adjective always before the 
substantive in English, which in French and 
in Latin is more commonly placed after it ; 
the use of the participle in English, where 
the present tense is used in other langua- 
ges ; as he is writing, scribit, il ecrit ; the 
use of the preposition to before the infi- 
nitive in English, where the French use the 
preposition de or of These last, which 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 253 

may be termed the general idioms of a lan- 
guage, are soon understood, and are ex- 
changed for parallel idioms with the utmost 
ease. With regard to these a translator can 
never err, unless through affectation or 
choice. For example, in translating the 
French phrase, II profit a (Tun avis, he may 
choose fashionably to say, in violation of 
the English construction, he profited of an 
advice ; or, under the sanction of poetical 
licence, he may choose to engraft the idiom 
of one language into another, as Mr Mac- 
pherson has done, where he says, " Him 
" to the strength of Hercule^ the lovely 
" Astyochea bore ;" 'Ov rzzzv ' AfTvoyjicx,, j3«2 
B^aKhmif II. lib. 2. 1. 165. 

I must here, however, notice two errors 
in regard to general idioms into which many 
translators from the French language into 
the English, have fallen, either from igno- 
rance, or inattention to the general con- 
struction of the two languages. 1. In nar- 
rative, or the description of past actions, 
the French often use the present tense for 
the preterite : Deu.r jeunes nobles Mexicains 



254 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI, 

jettent leurs armes, et mennent d lui comme, 
dfoerteurs. Ik mettent un genouil a terre 
dans la posture des supplians ; Us le saisis- 
sent, et selaneent de la platforme* — Cortez 
s 9 en dSbarasse, et se retient d la balustrade* 
Les deux jeunes nobles perissent sans avoir 
execute leur generense entreprise. Raynal 
Hist. Phil, et Pol. liv. vi. Let us ob- 
serve the awkward effect of a similar use of 
the present tense in English. " Two_young 
** Mexicans of noble birth throw away their 
" arms, and come to him as deserters. They 
w kneel in the posture of suppliants ; they 
" seize him, and throw themselves from the 
" platform. — Cortez disengages himself 
" from their grasp, and keeps hold of the 
" ballustrade. The noble Mexicans perish 
" without accomplishing their generous de- 
" sign." In like manner, the use of the 
present for the past tense is very common 
in Greek, and we frequently remark the 
same impropriety in English translations 
from that language. " After the death of 
" Darius, and the accession of Artaxerxes, 
* Tissaphernes accuses Cyrus to his brother 
" of treason : Artaxerxes gives credit to 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 255 

" the accusation, and orders Cyrus to be 
" apprehended, with a design to put him 
" to death ; but his mother having saved 
" him by her intercession, sends him back 
" to his government." Spelmans Xenophon. 
In the original, these verbs are put in the 
present tense, hufiuXXzi, tufarai, (rvKkapfium, 
aKovefjuTrsi' But this use of the present tense 
in narrative is contrary to the genius of the 
English language. The poets have assu- 
med it : and in them it is allowable, be- 
cause it is their object to paint scenes as 
present to the eye ; ut pictura poesis ; but 
all that a prose narrrative can pretend to, 
is an animated description of things past : 
if it goes any farther, it encroaches on the 
department of poetry *. 



* In one way, however, this use of the present tense is 
found in the best English historians, namely, in the sum- 
mary heads, or content of chapters. ft Lambert Simnel in- 
({ vades England, — Perkin Warbeck is avowed by the Duchess 
" of Burgundy — he returns to Scotland — he is taken pri- 
" soner — and executed," Hume. But it is by an ellipsis 
that the present tense comes to be thus used. The sentence 
at large would stand thus : u This chapter relates how Lam- 
fl bert Simnel invades England, how Perkin Warbeck if? 
" avowed by the Duchess of Burgundy," &c. 



256 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

2. The following error relative to a gene- 
ral idiom, is one of which we may find ex- 
amples, even in translations of great merit. 
The French, in familiar conversation, with 
an equal or inferior, use the personal pro- 
noun tu and te or toi, in the singular num- 
ber instead of the plural vous ; (lis se 
tutoyent). This usage is always indica- 
tive of ease and familiarity, and often 
of endearment, But it is idiomatic, or pe- 
culiar to the French language ; the English 
does not admit that mode of speech in fa- 
miliar discourse. None but a Quaker uses 
thee and $kau+ with the corresponding em- 
ployment of the verb in the singular num- 
ber. Such use, therefore, in the English, 
produces a quite contrary effect to that 
which it produces in the French ; and in- 
stead of ease, familiarity or endearment, is 
necessarily attended with stiffness, forma- 
lity and precision. The translation of Gil 
Bl&s by Smollett, is a work of great me- 
rit. The English author is true to the 
sense, manner, and spirit of his original, 
and is often extremely happy in the inter- 
change of particular idioms. But he has- 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 257 

uniformly erred with regard to that general 
idiomatic use of the pronoun tH i te y and 
toi ; and has thus thrown an air of stillness 
and formality on those parts, which in the 
original are most distinguished for their ease 
and spirit. A single example will illustrate 
these remarks : " Fabrice ne put mime sem~ 
" pecher de me dire un jour : En verite, Gil 
" Blas^je ne te reconnois plus, Avant que 
" tu fusses a la cour, tu avois toujours V esprit 
" tranquille : a present je te vois sans cesse 
" agite. Tu formes prqjet sur projet pour 
" t'enricher, et plus tu amasses de Men, plus 
" tu veux en amasser. Outre cela, te le di- 
" rai-je ? Tu nas plus avec moi ces Spanche- 
" mens de cceur, ees manieres lihres qui font 
" le charme des liaisons. Tout an contraire, 
" tu t'enveloppes, et me caches le fonds de 
" ton ame. Je remarque meme de la contrainte 
" dans les honnetetes que tu me fais. En- 
" Jin Gil Bias 71 est plus ce meme Gil Bias 
" quefai connu. Tu plaisantes sans chute, 
" lui respondis-je, d y un air assez froid. Je 
" ri appercois en moi aucun cliangement. — Ce 
46 nest point d tes yeux, repliqua-t-il, quon 
" doit s'en rapporter. lis sont fascine's. 

R 



258 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

" Crois-moi 9 ta metamorphose nest que trop 
" veritable" Fabricio one day could not 
help saying, " Truly, Gil Bias, thou art 
" grown out of my knowledge : before thy 
" coming to Court, thou wast always easy 
" and tranquil : at present thou art inces- 
u santly agitated with project after project 
" to enrich thyself; and the more wealth 
" thou hast got, the more wouldst thou 
" amass. Besides, let me tell thee, thou no 
" longer treatest me with that effusion of 
" the heart, and freedom of behaviour which 
" are the soul of friendship : on the contra- 
" ry, thou wrappest thyself up, and con- 
" cealest from me thy secret views : nay, I 
" can perceive constraint in all thy civilities 
" towards me . In short, Gil Bias is no long- 
er the same Gil Bias whom I formerly 
knew. You joke, sure, (said I, with an 
air of indifference), I can't perceive any 
u change in myself.— Thy own eyes are no 
** judges, (answered he), they are bewitch- 
" ed ; believe me, the metamorphosis is 
" but too true." — The contrasted effect of 
the ease of the original with the stiffness of 
the translation, must be apparent to every 



CHAP. XI* TRANSLATION. 259 

reader. Ill one place the translator was 
compelled into the right path* Tu plaisantes, 
sans doute, lui repawns je : " You joke, sure, 
u said I."— -" Thoujohest, sure, said J," could 
not have been tolerated in easy conversa- 
tion : a proof that ought to have led the in- 
genious translator to suspect that he had 
been violating the English idiom through 
the whole passage. 

But it is not with regard to such general 
idioms as I have mentioned above, that an 
able translator will often be led into &rror. 
It is in the translation of those particular idio- 
matic phrases of which eivery language has 
its own collection ; phrases which are gene- 
rally of a familiar nature, and which occur 
most commonly in conversation, or in that 
species of Writing which approaches to the 
ease of conversation. 

The translation is perfect, when the trans- 
lator finds in his own language an idiomatic 
phrase corresponding to that of the original. 
Montaigne (Ess. 1. I.e. 29.) says of Gallio, 
M Lequel ayant ete envoye en exil en Tisle 

n- 2 * 



260 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

" de Lesbos, on fut averti a Rome, quil s'y 
a donnoit du bon temps, et que ce qu'on lui 
u avoit enjoint pour peine, lui tournoit a 
" commodit6.' , The difficulty of transla- 
ting this sentence lies in the idiomatic 
phrase, " quil s 9 y donnoit du bon temps." 
Cotton finding a parallel idiom in English, 
has translated the passage with becoming 
ease and spirit : " As it happened to one 
" Gallio, who having been sent an exile to 
" the isle of Lesbos, news was not long af- 
" ter brought to Rome, that he there lived 
" as merry as the day was long ; and that 
" what had been enjoined him for a pe- 
" nance, turned out to his greatest pleasure 
" and satisfaction." Thus, in another pas- 
sage of the same author, (Essais, 1. 1. c. 29.) 
" *.Sz feusse He chef de part, j'eusse prins 
" autre voye plus naturelle." — " Had I ruVd 
" the roast, I should have taken another 
tc and more natural course." So likewise, 
(Ess. 1. 1. c. 25.) " Mais d'y enfoncer plus 
a avant, et de m etre ronge les onglts a 
" V etude a' Jristote, monarche de la doc- 
" trine moderne." — " Rut, to dive farther 
" than that, and to have cudgeled my brains 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 261 

" in the study of Aristotle, the monarch of 
" all modern learning." So, in the fol- 
lowing passages from Terence, translated 
by Echard : " Credo manibus pedibusque 
" obnixe omnia facturum" Andr. Act. 1. 
" I know he'll be at it tooth and nail." 
" Herus, quantum audio, uxore excidit," 
Andr. Act. 2. " For aught I perceive, my 
" poor master may go whistle for a wife." 

In like manner, the following collo- 
quial phrases are capable of a perfect 
translation by corresponding idioms. Rem 
acu tetigisti, " You have hit the nail 
" upon the head." Mihi isthic nee seritur 
nee metitur, Plaut. " That's no bread and 
" butter of mine." Omnem jecit aleam, 
" It was neck or nothing with him." Ti *gog 
aX(pira -, Aristoph. Nub. " Will that make 
" the pot boil ?" 

It is not perhaps possible to produce a 
happier instance of translation by corre- 
sponding idioms, than Sterne has given in 
the translation of Slawkenbergius's Tale, 
Nihil me poenitet hujus nasi, " Quoth Pam- 

r3 



262 principles of chap. xr. 

" phagus ; that is, my nose has been the ma- 
li king of me." Nee est cur pceniteat ; "that 
" is, How the deuce should such a nose 
" fail ?" Tristram Shandy, vol. iii. chap. 7. 
Miles peregrini in faciem snspexit. Di honi y 
nova forma nasi! " The centinel looked up 
" into the stranger's face. — Never saw such 
" a nose in his life !" Ibid. 

As there is nothing which so much con- 
duces both to the ease and spirit of compo- 
sition, as a happy use of idiomatic phrases, 
there is nothing which a translator, who has 
a moderate command of his own language, 
is so apt to carry to a licentious extreme. 
Echard, whose translations of Terence and 
of Plautus, have, upon the whole, much me- 
rit, is extremely censurable for his intempe- 
rate use of idiomatic phrases. In the first 
^ct of the Andria, Davus thus speaks to 
himself: 

Enimvero, Dave, nihil loci est segnitice neque socordice. 

Quantum intellexi senis sententiam de nuptiis : 

Quae si non astu providentur, me out herum pessundabunt ; 

Nee quid agam ceitum est, Pamphilumne adjutem an auscid* 

tem sent. 

Terent Andr, Act. 1. sc & 



13HAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 263 

The translation of this passage by Echard, 
exhibits a strain of vulgar petulance, whicli 
is very opposite to the chastened simplicity 
of the original. 

" Why, seriously, poor Davy, 'tis high 
u time to bestir thy stumps, and to leave off 
" dozing ; at least, if a body may guess at 
" the old man's meaning by his mumping. 
" If these brains do not help me out at a 
' dead lift, to pot goes Pilgarlick, or his 
" master, for certain : and hang me for a 
" dog, if I know which side to take ; whe* 
" ther to help my young master, or make 
" fair with his father." 

In the use of idiomatic phrases, a transla- 
tor frequently forgets both the country of 
his original author, and the age in which he 
wrote ; and while he makes a Greek or a 
Roman speak French or English, he unwit- 
tingly puts into his mouth allusions to the 
manners of modern France or England *, 

r4 



* It is surprising, that this fault should meet even with ap- 
probation from so judicious a, critic as Denham. In the pre- 



264 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

This, to use a phrase borrowed from paint- 
ing, may be termed an offence against the 
costume. The proverbial expression, /3ar^a- 
%a Hug, in Theocritus, is of similar import 
with the English proverb, to carry coals to 



face to his translation of the second book of the iEneid, he 
says : " As speech is the apparel of our thoughts., so there 
" are certain garbs and modes of speaking which vary with 
ec the times ; the fashion of our clothes being not more sub- 
" ject to alteration, than that of our speech : and this I think 
" Tacitus means by that which he calls Sermonem temporis 
" istius auribus accommodatum, the delight of change being as 
" due to the curiosity of the ear as of the eye : and therefore, 
" if Virgil must needs speak English, it were fit he should 
iC speak, not only as a man of this nation, but as a man of this 
" age." The translator's opinion is exemplified in his prac- 
tice. 

Infandum, Regina, jnbes renovare dolorem. 

{{ Madam, when you command us to review 

" Our fate, you make our old wounds bleed anew." 

Of such translation it may with truth be said, in the words 
of Francklin, 

Thus Greece and Rome, in modem dress arrayU, 
. Js but antiquity in masquerade. 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 265 

Newcastle ; but it would be a gross impro- 
priety to use this expression in the transla- 
tion of an ancient classic. Cicero, in his 
oration for Archias, says, " Persona quce prop- 
" ter otium et studium minime in judiciis pe- 
" riculisque versata est." M. Patru has 
translated this, " Un homme que ses etudes 
u et ses livres ont eloigne du commerce du 
" Palais." The Palais, or the Old Palace 
of the kings of France, it is true, is the 
place where the parliament of Paris and the 
chief courts of justice were assembled for 
the decision of causes ; but it is just as ab- 
surd to make Cicero talk of his haranguing 
in the Palais, as it would be of his pleading 
in Westminster Hall. In this respect, 
Echard is most notoriously faulty : We find 
in every page of his translations of Te- 
rence and Plautus, the most incongruous 
jumble of ancient and of modern manners. 
He talks of the " Lord Chief-Justice of 
" Athens," Jam tu autem nobis Prceturam 
geris ? Plaut. Epid. act. 1. sc. 1. and says, 
" I will send him to Bridewell with his skin 
** stripped over his ears," Hominem irriga- 
tum plagis pistori dabo, Ibid. sc. 3. " I must 



c 266 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

" expect to beat hemp in Bridewell all the 
" days of my life," Molendutn mini est us- 
que in pistrina, Ter. Phormio. act 2. " He 
" looks as grave as an alderman," Tris- 
tis severitas inest in putty, Ibid Andria, 
act 5. — The same author makes the ancient 
heathen Romans and Greeks swear British 
and Christian oaths ; such as, " Fore 
" George, Blood and ounds, Gadzookers, 
" 'Sbuddikins, By the Lord Harry !" They 
are likewise well read in the books both 
of the Old and New Testament : " Good 
" b'ye, Sir Solomon," says Gripus to Tra- 
ehalion, Salve, Thales ! Ph Rudens, act 4, 
sc. 3. ; and Sosia thus vouches his own iden- 
tity to Mercury, " By Jove I am he, and 
u 'tis as true as the gospel," Per Jovem 
jnro, mea esse, neque me fa (sum dicer e, PL 
Amphit act 1. sc. 1 *. The same ancients, 
in Mr Echard's translation, are familiarly 



* The modern air of the following sentence is, however, 
not displeasing : Antipho asks Cherea, where he has bespoke 
supper ; he answers, Apud libertum Discum, " At Discus the 
*' freedman's." Echard, with a happy familiarity, says, " At 
" old Harry Platter's. Ter. Eun. act. 3. sc. 5. 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION, 26*7 

acquainted with the modern invention of 
gunpowder ; " Had we but a mortar now 
" to play upon them under the covert way, 
" one bomb would make them scamper," 
Fun dam tibi nunc nimis vellem dart, ut tu 
illos procul kinc ex oculto cccderes, facerent 
fugam, Ter. Eun. act 4. And as their sol- 
diers swear and fight, so they must needs 
drink like the moderns : " This god can't af- 
" ford one brandy-shop in all his domi- 
-• nions," Ne thermopolium qaidem ullum 
tile instruit, PL Rud. act 2. sc. 9. In the 
same comedy, Plautus, who wrote 180 years 
before Christ, alludes to the battle of La 
Hogue, fought A. D. 1692. « I'll be as 
" great as a king," says Gripus, " I'll have 
■ c a Royal Sun * for pleasure, like the King 
H of France, and sail about from port to 
" port," Navibus magnis mercaturam faciam, 
PL Rud. act 4. sc, 2. 



* Alluding to the French Admiral's ship Le Soleil Royal 
beaten and disabled by KusselJ. 



268 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

In the Latin Poems of Pitcairne *, we 
remark an uncommon felicity in clothing 
pictures of modern manners in classical 
phraseology. In familiar poetry, and in 
pieces of a witty or humorous nature, this 
has often a very happy effect, and exalts the 
ridicule of the sentiment, or humour of the 
picture. But Pitcairne's fondness for the lan- 
guage of Horace, Ovid, and Lucretius, has 
led him sometimes into a gross violation of 
propriety, and the laws of good taste. In 
the translation of a Psalm, we are shocked 
when we find the Almighty addressed by 
the epithets of a heathen divinity, and his 
attributes celebrated in the language and al- 
lusions proper to the Pagan mythology. 
Thus, in the translation of the 104th Psalm, 
every one must be sensible of the glaring 
impropriety of the following expressions : 



* A poet from whom Dryden and Prior did not disdain to 
translate. See the epitaph on the Viscount of Dundee, trans- 
lated by Dry den , and Gualterus Danistonus ad amkos ) by- 
Prior. 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 269 

Dexteram invictam canimus, Jovemque 
Qui triumphatis, hominum et Deorum 
Praesidet regnis — — — 
Quam tuae virtus tremefecit orbent 
Juppiter dextrae. 

Et manus ventis tua Daedaleas 
Assuit alas. 



facile sque leges 



Rebus imponis, quibus antra parent 
jEoli. 

Proluit siccam pluvialis aether 
Barbam, et arentes humeros Atlantis. 

Quae fovet tellus, fluidumque regnum 
Tethyos. 

Juppiter carmen mihi semper. 

Juppiter solus mihi rex. 

In the entire translation of the Psalms 
by Johnston, we do not find a single in- 
stance of similar impropriety. And in the 
admirable version by Buchanan, there are 
(to my knowledge) only two passages which 



270 



PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 



are censurable on that account. The one 
is the beginning of the 4th Psalm : 

O Pater, O hominum Divunique aeterna potestas ! 

which is the first line of the speech of Venus 
to Jupiter, in the 1 0th iEneid : and the other 
is the beginning of Psalm 82. where two 
entire lines, with the change of one syllable, 
are borrowed from Horace : 

Regilm timendorum in proprios greges, 
Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovce. 

In the latter example, the poet probably 
judged that the change of Jovis into Jovce 
removed all objection ; and Ruddiman has 
attempted to vindicate the Divum of the 
former passage, by applying it to saints or 
angels : but allowing there were sufficient 
apology for both those words, the impro- 
priety still remains : for the associated ideas 
present themselves immediately to the mind, 
and we are justly offended with the literal 
adoption of an address to Jupiter in a hymn 
to the Creator. 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 271 

If a translator is bound, in general, to ad- 
here with fidelity to the manners of the age 
and country to which his original belongs, 
there are some instances in which he will 
find it necessary to make a slight sacrifice 
to the manners of his modern readers* 
The ancients, in the expression of resent- 
ment or contempt, made use of many epi- 
thets and appellations which sound ex- 
tremely shocking to our more polished ears, 
because we never hear them employed but 
by the meanest and most degraded of the 
populace. By similar reasoning we must 
conclude, that those expressions conveyed 
no such meaning or shocking ideas to the 
ancients, since we find them used by the 
most dignified and exalted characters. In the 
19th book of the Odyssey, Melantho, one 
of Penelope's maids, having vented her 
spleen against Ulysses, and treated him as 
a bold beggar who had intruded himself 
into the palace as a spy, is thus sharply re- 
proved by the Queen : 



272 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

These opprobrious epithets, in a literal 
translation would sound extremely offensive 
from the lips of the vrsgi<pgm YIvve^oTsia, 
whom the poet has painted as a model of 
female dignity and propriety. Such trans- 
lation, therefore, as conveying a picture 
different from what the poet intended, would 
be in reality injurious to his sense. Of this 
sort of refinement Mr Hobbes had no idea ; 
and therefore he gives the epithets in their 
genuine purity and simplicity : 

Bold bitch, said she, I know what deeds yOuVe done, 
Which thou shalt one day pay for with thy head. 

We cannot fail, however, to perceive, that 
Mr Pope has in fact been more faithful to 
the sense of his original, by accommodating 
the expressions of the speaker to that cha- 
racter which a modern reader must conceive 
to belong to her : 

Loquacious insolent, she cries, forbear ! 
Thy head shall pay the forfeit of thy tongue. 

Pliny, in one of his letters to Nepos, 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 273 

(1. 2. ep. 3.) requests his friend to come 
and hear Isoeus declaim in the rhetorical 
school ; and as an example of the superior 
effect o£ hearing an oration delivered, to 
that of reading it, or listening to its recital 
by another, he relates the celebrated saying 
of iEschines, on occasion of his repeating 
to the people of Rhodes, the animated ora- 
tion of Demosthenes in the cause of the 
Crown : T} he, si ctvrx ta Oqgix ctzrixozirs ; This 
passage, it is evident, cannot be endured in 
a literal translation. It would carry the 
idea of a sarcasm or invective of iEschines 
against his rival, instead of the most gene- 
rous avowal and splendid encomium of his 
powers of eloquence. Mr Mplmoth accor- 
dingly does justice to the sentiment in thus 
translating the passage : " How would you 
" have been affected, had you heard the 
" orator himself thundering out this su- 
" blime harangue :" But in Lord Orrery's 
translation the sentiment is absolutelv bur- 
lesqued, by an adherence to the literal in- 
terpretation : " What would you have said 



274 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

" had you heard that furious beast roar out 
" his own words *'\ 

A translator will often meet with idio- 
matic phrases in the original author, to 



* (C II faut prendre un milieu entre {"exactitude trop seru- 
puleuse qui les deguise (les poetes) et la licence qui les altere. 
J'apelle deguiser un aUteur, l'exposer dans une langue etran- 
gere avec une fidelite, ou folle, ou maligne, ou supersti- 
tieuse. Toute langue a ses arrangemens d'idees, ses tours,, 
et ses mots, nobles ou bas, energiques ou foibles, vifs ou 
languissans. C'est un principe qu'on ne sauroit nier. Qui 
voudroit traduire les anciens mot pour mot en Francois, et 
suivant le tour Grec, les travestiroit sans doute, et les rend- 
roit ridicules a peu de frais. Voila le premier degre de 
cette fausse fidelite dont je parle. Le second, et le plus malin, 
qu'on peut appeller Parodie, est de changer les expressions 
recues dans le bel usage de Tantiquite, en termes bas et 
populaires, comme le faisoit M. Perrault. Le troisieme 
degre, c'est de s'asservir scrupulensement, a exprimer toutes 
les Epithetes, et a faire d'un beau mot Grec une mechante 
phrase Fran9oise, ou un allongement vicieux qui amortit le 
feu des poetes, malgre tout le soin qu'ils ont eu d ? animer leur 
poesie. On doit a l'equite de les faire parler Francois (au- 
tant qu'on le peut) comme ils parleroient eux-memes, s'ils 
faisoient passer leur pensees en notre langue. Pourquoi 
changer en monnoye de cuivre un depot que Ton peut con- 
server en or ?" Brum oy, Disc. (Preliminaire) sur le Theatre 
des Grecs. 



CKAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 275 

which no corresponding idiom can be found 
in the language of the translation. As a 
literal translation of such phrases cannot 
be tolerated, the only resource is, to ex- 
press the sense in plain and easy language. 
Cicero, in one of his letters to Papirms 
Paetus, says, " Veni igitur^ si vires, et tUsce 
4< jam ngoXsyoiisvag quits nuceris ; etsi sus 
" Minervam" Ep. ad Fam. 9. 18. The 
idiomatic phrase si vires, is capable of a 
perfect translation by a corresponding idiom ; 
but that which occurs in the latter part of 
the sentence, etsi sus Minervam, can nei- 
ther be translated by a corresponding idiom, 
nor yet literally. Mr Melmoth has thus 
happily expressed the sense of the whole 
passage : " If you have any spirit then, fly 
" hither, and learn from our elegant bills 
" of fare how to refine your own ; though, 
" to do your talents justice, this is a sort of 
u knowledge in which you are much supe- 
" rior to your instructors." — Pliny, in one 
of his epistles to Calvisius, thus addresses 
him, Assem para, et accipe aur earn fab ulam : 
fabulas immo : nam me priorum nova admo- 
nuit, lib % ep. 20. To this expression, as- 

s 2 



2*76 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI* 

sem para, &c. which is a proverbial mode 
of speech, we have nothing that corre- 
sponds in English. To translate the phrase 
literally would have a poor effect : " Give 
" me a penny, and take a golden story, or 
" a story worth gold." Mr Melmoth has 
given the sense in easy language : " Are you 
" inclined to hear a story ? or, if you please, 
" two or three ? for one brings to my mind 
f another." 

But this resource, of translating the idio- 
matic phrase into easy language, must fail, 
where the merit of the passage to be trans- 
lated actually lies in that expression which 
is idiomatical. This will often occur in 
epigrams, many of which are therefore in- 
capable of translation : The following epi- 
gram of Martial affords a complete example: 

Semper agis causas, et res agis, Attale, semper ; 
Est, non est quod agas, Attale, semper agis : 
Si res et causae desunt, agis, Attale, mulas ; 
Attale, ne quod agas desit, agas animam. 

Thus, too, in the following epigram, the point 



CHAP. XI, TRANSLATION. 277 

of wit lies in an idiomatic phrase, and i§ 
lost in every other language where the same 
precise idiom does not occur : 

On the wretched imitations of the Diable Boiteux of 
XjE Sage : 

Le Diable Boiteux est aimable ; 
Le Sage y triomphe aujourdhui ; 
Tout ce qu'on a fait apres lui 
N'a pas valu le Diable. 

We say in English, " 'Tis not worth a fig,'* 
or, " 'tis not worth a farthing ;" but we can- 
not say, as the French do, " 'Tis not worth 
" the devil ;" and therefore the epigram 
cannot be translated into English. 

It is evident, that it is equally impos- 
sible to translate those epigrams where the 
point lies in a pun or play of words in th© 
original language : as, for example, 

'Avlog non ersgos mihi sit, mihi qui sit ircciqps : 
§it comis, quisquis vult meus esse comes. 

Owen i Epigmmmatao 

S3 



278 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XI. 

Or another of the same author : 

Quid facies, facies Veneris cum veneris ante ? 
Ne sedeasj sed eas, ne pereas per eas* 

Equally incapable of justice in any trans- 
lation are the following lines of Marot, in 
his Epitre au Roi, where the merit lies in 
the ludicrous naivete of the last line, which 
is idiomatical, and has no strictlv corre- 
sponding expression in English : 

J'avois un jour un valet de Gascogne, 
Gourmand, yvrogne, et assure menteur, 
Pipeur, larron, jureiir, blasphemateur, 
Sentant la hart de cent pas a. la ronde : 
Au demeurant le meilleur Jilz du monde. 

Although we have idioms in English 
that are nearlv similar to this, we have none 
which has the same naivete, and therefore 
no justice can be done to this passage by 
any English translation. 

The following happy imitation of the 
style and manner of Marot, would, on ac- 
count of its singular naivetS of expression, 
prove a finost arduous task to any translator : 



CHAP. XI. TRANSLATION. 279 

Si n'avez point encore tendre amourette, 
De tel repos, beau gars, n'ayez souci ; 
Trop tot viendra jour piteux, ou fillet.te 
A vous pauvret fera crier merci : 
Le scais par raoi ce que vous dis ici : 
Tout comme vous desirai Bachelette, 
Que bien aimasse et qui m'aimat aussi > 
Or, que m'est il provenu de ceci ? 
Pleurai longtems, longtems contai fleurette, 
Et puis au bout, suis devenu mari. 

Bibliotheque des Amans, par M. Sylvain M. . . . Paris. 

If the above is capable of a translation* 
which should do it justice, it must be done 
by a skilful imitation of its antiquated lan- 
guage ; and by the pen of a Pope, or a Haw- 
kins Browne *, 



* The ingenious author of A Pipe of Tobacco, in imitation 
of the manner of six different English poets ; and yet more 
distinguished for his admirable poem, De Immortalitate Animi 3 
— one of the best specimens of the Latin poetry of the mo- 
flerns. 



34 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 281 



CHAPTER XII. 



Difficulty of translating Don Quixote, from 
its Idiomatic Phraseology.— Of the best 
Translations of that Romance. — Compa- 
rison of the Translation by Motteux with 
that by Smollet, 



1 here is perhaps no book to which it is 
more difficult to do perfect justice in a trans- 
lation than theDonQuixoteof Cervantes. This 
difficulty arises from the extreme frequency 
of its idiomatic phrases. As the Spanish 
language is in itself highly idiomatical, even 
the narrative part of the book is on that ac- 
count difficult ; but the colloquial part is 
studiously filled with idioms, as one of the 
principal characters continually expresses 



282 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII. 

himself in proverbs. Of this work there 
have been many English translations, exe- 
cuted, as may be supposed, with vari- 
ous degrees of merit. The two best of 
these, in my opinion, are the translations 
of Motteux and Smollet, both of them 
writers eminently well qualified for the task 
they undertook. It will not be foreign to 
the purpose of this Essay, If I shall here 
make a short comparative estimate of the 
merit of these translations *. 

Smollet inherited from nature a strong 
sense of ridicule, a great fund of original 
humour, and a happy versatility of talent, 
by which he could accommodate his style 
to almost every species of writing. He 
could adopt alternately the solemn, the live- 
ly, the sarcastic, the burlesque, and the vul- 



* The translation published by Motteux bears, in the 
title-page, that it is the work of several hands ; but as of 
these Mr Motteux was the "principal, and revised and cor- 
rected the parts that were translated by others, which indeed 
we have no means of discriminating from his own, I shall, 
in the following comparison, speak of him as the authpi; q£ 
the whole work. 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 283 

gar. To these qualifications he joined an 
inventive genius, and a vigorous imagina- 
tion. As he possessed talents equal to the 
composition of original works of the same 
species with the romance of Cervantes ; so 
it is not perhaps possible to conceive a wri- 
ter more completely qualified to give a per- 
fect translation of that romance. 

Motleux, with no great abilities as an ori- 
ginal writer, appears to me to have been en- 
dowed with a strong perception of the ri- 
diculous in human character ; a just dis- 
cernment of the weaknesses and follies of 
mankind. He seems likewise to have had a 
great command of the various styles which 
are accommodated to the expression both of 
grave burlesque, and of low humour. Inferior 
to Smollet in inventive genius, he seems to 
have equalled him in every quality which 
was essentially requisite to a translator of 
Don Quixote. It may therefore be sup- 
posed, that the contest between them will 
be nearly equal, and the question of prefe- 
rence very difficult to tie decided. It would 
have been so, had Smollet confided in his 



284 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII, 

own strength, and bestowed on his task that 
time and labour which the length and dif- 
ficulty of the work required : but Smollet 
too often wrote in such circumstances, that 
dispatch was his primary object He found 
various English translations at hand, which 
he judged might save him the labour of a 
new composition. Jarvis could give him 
faithfully the sense of his author ; and it 
was necessary only to polish his asperi- 
ties, and lighten his heavy and awkward 
phraseology. To contend with Motteux, 
Smollet found it necessary to assume the 
armour of Jarvis. This author had pur- 
posely avoided, through the whole of his 
work, the smallest coincidence of expres- 
sion with Motteux, whom, with equal pre- 
sumption and injustice, he accuses in his 
preface of having " taken his version 
^ wholly from the French *." We find, 



* The only French translation of Don Quixote with which 
I am acquainted;, is that to which is subjoined a continuation 
of the Knight's adventures, in two supplemental volumes. 
This translation, which, from a note on the Dedication, ap- 
pears to he the work of M. Lancelot, has undergone number-* 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION* §85 

therefore, both in the translation of Jarvis 
and Smollet, which is little else than an im- 
proved edition of the former, that there is 
a studied rejection of the phraseology of 



less editions, and is therefore, I presume, the best ; perhaps 
indeed the only one, except a very old version, which is men- 
tioned in the Preface, as being quite literal, and very antiqua- 
ted in its style. It is therefore to be presumed, that whew 
Jarvis accuses Motteux of having taken his version entirely 
from the French, he refers to that translation above men- 
tioned, to which Le Sage has given a supplement. If this be 
the case, we may confidently affirm, that Jarvis has done Mot- 
teux the greatest injustice. On comparing his translation 
with the French, there is a discrepancy so absolute and uni- 
versal, that there does not arise the smallest suspicion that he 
had ever seen that version. Let any passage be compared 
ud aperturam lihri ; as, for example, the following: 

" De simples huttes tenoient lieu de maisons, et de palais 
" aux habitans de la terre; les arbres se defaisant d'eux- 
il memes de leurs ecorces, leur fournissoient de quoi couv- 
" rir leurs cabanes, et se garantir de l'intemperie des sai- 



" The tough and strenuous cork-trees did of themselves., 
if and without other art than their native liberiility, dismiss 
" and impart their broad, light bark, which served to cover 
" those lowly huts, propped up with rough-hewn stakes, that 
ff were first built as a shelter against the inclemencies of the 



286 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII* 

Motteux. Now, Motteux, though he has 
frequently assumed too great a licence, both 



" La beaute n'etoit point un avantage dangereux aiix jeu- 
" nes filles ; elles alloient librement partout, etalant sans ar- 
" tifice et sans dessein totis les presens que leur avoit fait la 
" Nature, sans se cacher davantage, qu' autant que Thonne- 
" tete commune a tons les siecles l'a toujours demande." 

" Then was the time, when innocent beautiful young 
tc shepherdesses went tripping over the hills and vales, their 
tc lovely hair sometimes plaited, sometimes loose and flowing, 
rt clad in no other vestment but what was necessary to cover 

" decently what modesty would always have concealed." 

Motteux. 

It will not, I believe, be asserted, that this version of Mot- 
teux bears any traces of being copied from the French, which 
is quite licentious and paraphrastical. But when we subjoin 
the original, we shall perceive, that he has given a very just 
and easy translation of the Spanish. 

Los valientes alcornoques despedian de si dn otro artificio 
que el de su cortesia, sus anchas y livianas cortezas, sin que se 
commenqaron d cubrir las casas, sobre rusticas estacas susien- 
tadas, no mas que para defensa de las inclemencias del cielo. 

Entonces si, que andaban las simples y kermosas zagalejas 
de valle en valle, y de otero en otero, en trenza y en cabello, sin 
mas vestidos de aquellos que eran menester para cubrir hanesta* 
mente lo que la honestidad quiere. 



CttAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 287 

both in adding to and retrenching from the 
ideas of his original, has, upon the whole, a 
very high degree of merit as a translator. 
In the adoption of corresponding idioms he 
has been eminently fortunate, and, as in 
these there is no great latitude, he has in 
general preoccupied the appropriate phrases ; 
so that a succeeding translator, who proceed- 
ed on the rule of invariably rejecting his 
phraseology, must have, in general, altered 
for the worse. Such, I have said, was the 
rule laid down by Jarvis, and by his copyist 
and improver, Smollet, who, by thus absurd- 
ly rejecting what his own judgment and 
taste must have approved, has produced a 
Composition decidedly inferior, on the 
whole, to that of Motteux. While I justi- 
fy the opinion I have now given, by com- 
paring several passages of both translations, 
I shall readily allow full credit to the per- 
formance of Smollet, wherever I find that 
there is a real superiority to the work of his 
rival translator. 

After Don Quixote's unfortunate en- 
counter with the Yanguesian carriers, in 



288 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII. 

which the Knight, Sancho, and Rozinante* 
were all most grievously mauled, his faith- 
ful squire lays his master across his ass, and 
conducts him to the nearest inn, where a 
miserable bed is made up for him in a 
cock-loft. Cervantes then proceeds as fol- 
lows : 

En est a maldita cama se accost 6 Don 
Quixote : y luego la ventera y su hija le em- 
plastdron de arriba abaxo, alumbrandoles 
Maritornes : que asi se llamaba la Asturia- 
na. Y como al vizmalle, viese la ventera tan 
acardenalado & partes a Don Quixote, dixo 
que aquello mas parecian golpes que caida. 
Nofueron golpes, dixo Sancho^ sino que la 
pena tenia muchos picos y tropezones, y que 
cada uno habia hecho su cardinal, y tambien 
le dixo : haga vuestra merced, senora, de ma- 
nera que queden algunas estopas, que nofal- 
tard quien las haya menester, que tambien me 
duelen a mi un poco los lomos. Desa mane^ 
ra, respondio la ventera^ tambien debistes vos 
de caer ? No cat, dico Sancho Panza, sino 
que del sobresalto que tome de ver caer d 
mi amo, de tal manera me duele a mi el 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 289 

cuerpo, que me parece que me han dado mil 
palos. 



Translation by Motteux. 

" In this ungracious bed was the Knight 
u laid to rest his belaboured carcase ; and 
44 presently the hostess and her daughter 
" anointed and plastered him all over, while 
44 Maritornes (for that was the name of the 
" Asturian wench) held the candle. The 
u hostess, while she greased him, wonder- 
44 ing to see him so bruised all over, I fan- 
44 cy, said she, those bumps look much more 
44 like a dry beating than a fall. , 'Twas no 
" dry beating, mistress, I promise you, 
44 quoth Sancho ; but the rock had I know 
" not how many cragged ends and knobs, 
" and every one of them gave my master a 
44 token of its kindness. And by the 
44 way, forsooth, continued he, I beseech 
44 you save a little of that same tow and 
44 ointment for me too, for I don't know 
44 what's the matter with my back, but I 
44 fancy I stand mainly in want of a little 

T 



290 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII. 



greasing too. What, I suppose you fell 
too ? quoth the landlady. Not I, quoth 
Sancho, but the very fright that I took to 
see my master tumble down the rock, has 
so wrought upon my body, that I am as 
sore as if I had been sadly mauled." 



Translation by Smollet. 

" In this wretched bed Don Quixote ha- 
" ving laid himself down, was anointed from 
" head to foot by the good woman and her 
4i daughter, while Maritornes (that was the 
" Asturian's name) stood hard by, holding 
" a light. . The landlady, in the course of 
" her application, perceiving the Knight's 
" whole body black and blue, observed, that 
" those marks seemed rather the effects of 
" drubbing than of a fall ; but Sancho af- 
" firmed she was mistaken, and that the 
" marks in question were occasioned by the 
" knobs and corners of the rocks among 
"which he fell. And now, I think of it, 
u said he, pray, Madam, manage matters 
*. so as to leave a little of your ointment, 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 291 

" for it will be needed, I'll assure you : my 

" own loins are none of the soundest at 

" present. What, did you fall too? said 

" she. I can't say I did, answered the 

" squire ; but I was so infected by seeing 

" my master tumble, that my whole body 

" akes, as much as if I had been cudgelled 

" without mercy." 

Op these two translations, it will hardly 
be denied that Motteux's is both easier in 
point of style, and conveys more forcibly 
the humour of the dialogue in the original. 
A few contrasted phrases will shew clearly 
the superiority of the former. 

Motteux. " In this ungracious ?bed was 
" the Knight laid to rest his belaboured 
" carcase." 

Smollet. " In this wretched bed Don 
" Quixote having laid himself down." 

Motteux. " While Maritornes (for that 
" was the name of the Asturian wench) 
" held the candle." 

t 2 



292 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. Xlf. 

Smollet. " While Maritornes (that was 
" the Asturian's name) stood hard by, hold- 
" ing a light." 

Motteux* " The hostess, while she grea- 
" sed him." 

Smollet. " The landlady, in the course 
u of her application." 

Motteux. " I fancy, said she, those 
" bumps look much more like a dry beat- 
" ing than a fall." 

Smollet. " Observed, that those marks 
" seemed rather the effects of drubbing than 
« of a fall." 

Motteux* " 'Twas no dry beating, mis- 
" tress, I promise you, quoth Sancho." 

Smollet. " But Sancho affirmed she was 
" in a mistake." 

Motteux. " And, by the way, forsooth, 
" continued he, I beseech you save a little, 
" of that same tow and ointment for me ; 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 293 

" for I don't know what's the matter with 
u my back, but I fancy I stand mainly in 
" need of a little greasing too." 

Smollet. " And now, I think of it, said 
" he, pray, Madam, manage matters so as 
" to leave a little of your ointment, for it 
" will be needed, I'll assure you : my own 
" loins are none of the soundest at pre- 
" sent." 

Mvtteux* " What, I suppose you fell 
* too ? quoth the landlady. Not I, quoth 
" Sancho, but the very fright," &c. 



Smollet. " What, did you fall too ? said 
she. I can't say I did, answered the 
squire ; but I was so infected," &c. 



There is not only more ease of expres- 
sion and force of humour in Motteux's 
translation of the above passages than in 
Smollet's, but greater fidelity to the origi- 
nal. In one part, nofueron golpes, Smol- 
let has improperly changed the first person 
for the third, or the colloquial style for the 

t3 



294 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. XII. 

narrative, which materially weakens the spi- 
rit of the passage. Cada ano habia hecho su 
cardenal is most happily translated by Mot- 
teux, " every one of them gave him a to- 
" ken of its kindness ;" but in Smollet's 
version, this spirited clause of the sentence 
evaporates altogether. — Algunas estopas is 
more faithfully rendered by Motteux than 
by Smollet. In the latter part of the pas- 
sage, when the hostess jeeringly says to 
Sancho, Desa manera tambien debutes vos 
de caer ? the squire, impatient to wipe off 
that sly insinuation against the veracity of 
his story, hastily answers, No cai. To this 
Motteux has done ample justice, " Not I, 
" quoth Sancho." But Smollet, instead of 
the arch effrontery, which the author meant 
to mark by this answer, gives a tame apolo- 
getic air to the squire's reply, " I can't say 
" I did, answered the squire." Don Quix. 
par. 1. cap. 16. 

Don Quixote and Sancho, travelling in 
the night through a desert valley, have their 
ears assailed at once by a combination of 
the most horrible sounds, the roaring of ca- 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 295 

taracts, clanking of chains, and loud strokes 
repeated at regular intervals ; all which per- 
suade the Knight, that his courage is im- 
mediately to be tried in a most perilous ad- 
venture. Under this impression, he felici- 
tates himself on the immortal renown ha 
is about to acquire, and, brandishing his 
lance, thus addresses Sancho, whose joints 
are quaking with affright : 

Asi que aprieta an poco las cinchas a Eo- 
cinante y y quedate a Dios ; y asperame aqui 
hasta tres dias, no mas, en los quales si no 
volviere, puedes tu voloerte a nuestra aldea, 
y desde alli^ por hacerme merced y buena 
obra, iras al Toboso, donde divas al i?ico?n- 
parable seTwra mia Dulcinea, que su cautivo 
caballero murio por acometer cosas, que le 
hiciesen digno de poder llamarse sayo. Don 
Quix. par. 1. cap. 20. 



Translation by Motteux. 

" Come, girth Rozinante straiter, and 
" then Providence protect thee: Thou may'st 

t 4 



296 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII* 

" stay for me here ; but if I do not return 
" in three days, go back to our village, and 
" from thence, for my sake, to Toboso, 
" where thou shalt say to my incomparable 
" lady Dulcinea, that her faithful knight 
" fell a sacrifice to love and honour, while 
" he attempted things that might have made 
" him worthy to be called her adorer." 



Translation by Smollet. 

u Therefore straiten Rozinante's girth, 
" recommend thyself to God, and wait for 
" me in this place, three days at farthest ; 
ic w T ithin which time if I come not back, 
" thou mayest return to our village, and, 
** as the last favour and service done to me, 
a go from thence to Toboso, and inform my 
" incomparable mistress Dulcinea, that 
" her captive knight died in attempting 
" things that might render him worthy to 
* c be called her lover." 

Om comparing these two translations, that 
of Smollet appears to me to have better 



CHAP. XII* TRANSLATION. 297 

preserved the ludicrous solemnity of the 
original. This is particularly observable in 
the beginning of the sentence, where there 
is a most humorous association of two coun- 
sels very opposite in their nature, the re- 
commending himself to God, and girding 
Rozinante. In the request, " and as the 
u last favour and service done to me, go 
H from thence to Toboso ;" the tranlations 
of Smollet and Motteux are, perhaps, near- 
ly equal in point of solemnity, but the sim- 
plicity of the original is better preserved by 
Smollet * 



* Perhaps a parody was here intended of the famous epi- 
taph of Simonides, on the brave Spartans who fell at Ther- 
mopylae : 

SI |sjv, ecyyuXov AxKiScctftevioig, on tjj^s 

" O stranger, carry back the news to Lacedemon, that 
f< we died here to prove our obedience to her laws/* This, 
it will be observed, may be translated, or at least closely imi- 
tated, in the very words of Cervantes ; divas— que su ca~ 
ballero murio por acometer cosas 3 que le hiciesen digno dz 
<poder Uamarse sugo. 



298 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII. 

Sancho, after endeavouring in vain to 
dissuade his master from engaging in this 
perilous adventure, takes advantage of the 
darkness to tie Rozinante's legs together, and 
thus to prevent him from stirring from the 
spot ; which being done, to divert the 
Knight's impatience under this supposed 
enchantment, he proceeds to tell him, in his 
usual strain of rustic buffoonery, a long 
story of a cock and a bull, which thus be- 
gins ; u Erase que se era, el bien que viniere 
u para todos sea, y el mal para quien lo fuere 
u a buscar ; y advierta vuestra merced, senor 
" mio, que el principio que los antiguos die- 
" von a sus consejas, nofue asi como quiera y 
"quefue una sentencia de Caton Zonzorino 
" TLomano que dice, y el mal para quien lo 
" fuere a buscar." Ibid. 



In this passage, the chief difficulties that 
occur to the translator are, first , the begin- 
ning, which seems to be a customary pro- 
logue to a nursery-tale among the Spaniards, 
which must therefore be translated by a cor- 
responding phraseology in English j and, 
secondly, the blunder of Caton Zonzorino. 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 299 

Both these are, I think, most happily hit off 
by Motteux. " In the days of yore, when 
" it was as it was, good betide us all, and 
" evil to him that evil seeks. And here, 
" Sir, you are to take notice, that they of old 
u did not begin their tales in an ordinary 
" way ; for 'twas a saying of a wise man, 
" whom they call'd Cato the Roman Ton- 
(< sor, that said, Evil to him that evil seeks." 
Smollet thus translates the passage : " There 
" was, so there was ; the good that shall 
" fall betide us all ; and he that seeks evil 
" may meet with the devil. Your worship 
" may take notice, that the beginning of 
" ancient tales is not just what came into 
" the head of the teller : no, they always 
" began with some saying of Cato, the cen- 
" sor of Rome, like this, of ' He that seeks 
" evil may meet with the devil." 

The beginning of the story, thus transla- 
ted, has neither any meaning in itself, nor 
does it resemble the usual preface of a fool- 
ish tale. Instead of Co ton Zonzorino, a 
blunder which apologises for the mention of 
Cato by such an ignorant clown as Sancho, 



300 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. Xlfr 

we find the blunder rectified by Smollet, and 
Cato distinguished by his proper epithet of 
the Censor. This is a manifest improprie- 
ty in the last translator, for which no other 
cause can be assigned, than that his prede- 
cessor had preoccupied the blunder of Cato 
the Tonsor, which, though not a translation 
of Zonzorino, (the purblind), was yet a very 
happy parallelism. 

In the course of the same cock-and-bull 
story, Sancho thus proceeds : " A si que, 
" yendo diets y r ciniendo dias> el diablo que 
" no duerme y que todo lo anasca, hizo de 
" manera, que el amor que el pastor tenia a 
" su pastora se volviese en omecillo y mala vo- 
" luntad, y la causa fuS segun malas lenguas, 
M una cierta cantidad de zelillos que ella le 
" did, tales que pasaban de la raya, y llega- 
" ban a lo vedado, y fue tanto lo que el pas- 
" tor la aborrecio de alii adelante, que por 
" no verla se quiso ausentar de aquella tierra, 
u 6 irse donde sus ojos no la viesen jamas ; la 
" Toralva, que se vio desdenada del Lope, lite- 
" go le quiso Men mas que nunca le habia 
tt querido." Ibid. 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION, 301 

Translation by Motteux. 

" Well, but, as you know, days come 
" and go, and time and straw makes med- 
a lars ripe ; so it happened, that after seve- 
" ral days coming and going, the devil, who 
" seldom lies dead in a ditch, but will have 
" a finger in every pye, so brought it about, 
" that the shepherd fell out with his sweet- 
a heart, insomuch that the love he bore her 
a turned into dudgeon and ill-will ; and the 
" cause was, by report of some mischievous 
u tale-carriers, that bore no good-will to ei- 
" ther party, for that the shepherd thought 
" her no better than she should be, a little 
" loose i' the hilts, &c *. Thereupon being 
" grievous in the dumps about it, and now 
" bitterly hating her, he e'en resolved to 
" leave that country to get out of her sight : 
" for now, as every dog has his day, the 
" wench perceiving he came no longer a 
" suitering to her, but rather toss'd his 



One expression is omitted which is a little to^ gross. 



302 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. XII. 



" nose at her and shunn'd her, she began to 
" love him, and doat upon him like any 
" thing." 

I believe it will be allowed, that the above 
translation not only conveys the complete 
sense and spirit of the original, but that it 
greatly improves upon its humour. When 
Smollet came to translate this passage, he 
must have severely felt the hardship of that 
law he had imposed on himself, of invaria- 
bly rejecting the expressions of Motteux, 
who had in this instance been singularly 
successful. It will not therefore surprise us, 
if we find the new translator to have here 
failed as remarkably as his predecessor has 
succeeded. 



Translation by Smollet. 

" And so, in process of time, the devil, 
who never sleeps, but wants to have a fin- 
ger in every pye^ managed matters in 
such a manner, that the shepherd's love 
" for the shepherdess was turned into ma- 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. SOS 

" lice and deadly hate : and the cause, ac- 
" cording to evil tongues, was a certain 
quantity of small jealousies she gave him, 
exceeding all bounds of measure. And 
such was the abhorrence the shepherd 
" conceived for her, that, in order to avoid 
" the sight of her, he resolved to absent 
himself from his own country, and go 
where he should never set eyes on her 
again. Toralvo finding herself despised 
by Lope, began to love him more than 



" ever." 



Smollet, conscious that in the above pas- 
sage Motteux had given the best possible 
fn e translation, and that he had supplanted 
him in the choice of corresponding idioms, 
seems to have piqued himself on a rigid ad- 
herence to the very letter of his original. 
The only English idiom, being a plagiarism 
from Motteux, " wants to have a finger in 
" every pye" seems to have been adopted 
from absolute necessity : the Spanish phrase 
would not bear a literal version, and no 
other idiom was to be found but that which 
Motteux had preoccupied. 



304 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. XII. 

From an inflexible adherence to the same 
law, of rejecting the phraseology of Motteux, 
we find in every page of this new translation 
numberless changes for the worse : 

Se que no mira del mql qjo a la mochacha. 

u I have observed he casts a sheep's eye 
" at the wench." Motteux. 






I can perceive he has no dislike to the 
girl." Smollet. 



Teresa me pusieron en el bautismo, nombre 
mondo y escueto, sin anadiduras, ni cortoyi- 
zas, ni arrequives de Danes ni Donas. 






I was christened plain Teresa, without 
any fiddle-faddle, or addition of Madam, 
or Your Ladyship." Motteux. 



w Teresa was I christened, a bare and 
* c simple name, without the addition, garni- 
*' ture, and embroidery of Don or Donna." 
Smollet, 



CHAP. XII# TRANSLATION. 305 

Sigue tu cuento, Sancho. 

" Go on with thy story, Sancho." MoU 
tern* 

" Follow thy story, Sancho." Smollet* 

Yo confieso que he andado algo risneno en 
demasia. 

" I confess I carried the jest too far." 
Mottenx. 

" I see I have exceeded a little in my 

«! 

a pleasantry." Smollet. 

De mis vinas vengo, no se nada, no soy 
ttmigo de saber vidas agenas. 

" I never thrust my nose into other men's 
" porridge; it's no bread and butter of 
" mine : Every man for himself, and God 
u for us all, say I." Motteuoc, 

u I prune my own vine, and I know no- 



306 PRINCIPLES OF GHAP. XII. 

" thing about thine. I never meddle with 
" other people's concerns." Smollet. 

Y advierta que ya tengo edad para dar 
consejos. Quien bien tiene, y mal escoge, por 
bien que se enoja, no se venga *. 

" Come, Master, I have hair enough in 
" my beard to make a counsellor : he that 
" will not when he may, when he will he 
" shall have nay." Motteux. 

" Take notice that I am of an age to give 
" good counsels. He that hath good in his 
" view, and yet will not evil eschew, his folly 
" deserveth to rue." Smollet. Rather than 
adopt a corresponding proverb, as Mot- 
teux has done, Smollet chuses, in this in- 
stance, and in many others, to make a pro- 
verb for himself, by giving a literal version 
of the original in a sort of doggrel rhyme. 



* Thus it stands in all the editions by the Royal Academy 
of Madrid ; though in Lord Carteret's edition the latter part 
©f the proverb is given thus, apparently with more propriety: 
del mal que le, viene no se enoje^ 



£HAP. XII, TRANSLATION, 307 

Vive Roque, que es la seuora nuestra ama 
mas ligera que un alcotan, y que puede ense- 
nar al mas diestro Cordobes o Meaicano. 

" By the Lord Harry, quoth Sancho, our 
" Lady Mistress is as nimble as an eel. 
" Let me be hang'd, if I don't think she 
" might teach the best Jockey in Cordova or 
" Mexico to mount a-horseback." Motteux. 

. " By St Roque, cried Sancho, my Lady 

" Mistress is as light as a hawk % and can 

" teach the most dextrous horseman to 

" ride." Smotlet. 

The chapter which treats of the puppet- 
show, is well translated both by Motteux 
and Smollet. But the discourse of the boy 
who explains the story of the piece, in Mot- 
teux's translation, appears somewhat more 
consonant to the phraseology commonly 

u 2 



* Mas ligera que un alcotan is more literally translated by 
Smollet than by Motteux ; but if Smollet piqued himself en 
fidelity, why was Cordobes o Mexicano omitted. 



308 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. XII* 

used on such occasions : — " Now, gentle* 
" men, in the next place, mark that perso- 
" nage that peeps out there with a crown 
" on his head, and a sceptre in his hand : 
" That's the Emperor Charlemain.-^Mind 
" how the Emperor turns his back up- 
" on him. — Don't you see that Moor ; 
" — hear what a smack he gives on her 
r sweet lips, — and see how she spits 
" and wipes her mouth with her white 
" smoke-sleeve. See how she takes on, 
" and tears her hair for very madness, 
" as if it was to blame for this affront. — 
" Now mind what a din and hurly-burly 
" there is." Motteux. This jargon ap- 
pears to me to be more characteristic 
of the speaker than the following : " And 
" that personage who now appears with a 
" crown on his head and a sceptre in his 
" hand, is the Emperor Charlemagne.- — Be- 
" hold how the Emperor turns about and 
" walks off.— Don't you see that Moor ; — 
" Now mind how he prints a kiss in the 
" very middle of her lips, and with what 
" eagerness she spits, and wipes them with 
" the sleeve of her shift, lamenting aloud, 
" and tearing for anger her beautiful hair. 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. SOS 



54 



as if it had been guilty of the trans- 



<c gression *." 



In the same scene of the puppet-show, 
the scraps of the old Moorish ballad are 
translated by Motteux with a corresponding 
naivete of expression, which it seems to me 
impossible to exceed. 



u3 



* Smollet has here mistaken the sense of the original, 
€amo si ellos tuvietan la culpa del maleficio : She did not 
blame the hair for being guilty of the transgression or of- 
fence, but for being the cause of the Moor's transgression, or, 
as Motteux has properly translated it, " this affront." In 
another part of the same chapter, Smollet has likewise mista- 
ken the sense of the original. When the boy remarks, that the 
Moors don't observe much form or ceremony in their judi- 
cial trials, Don Quixote contradicts him, and tells him there 
must always be a regular process and examination of evidence 
to prove matters of fact, (e para sacar una verdad en Ihnpio, 
menester son muchas pruebas y repruebas." Smollet applies 
this observation of the Knight to the boy's long-winded story, 
and translates the passage, " There is not so much proof 
* c and counter proof required to bring truth to light." In 
both these passages Smojlet has departed from his prototype, 
Jarvis, 



310 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII* 

Jugando estd a las tablas Don Gayferos, 
Que ya de Melisendra estd olvidado. 

et Now Gayferos the live-long day, 

<e Oh, errant shame ! at draughts doth play ; 

c< And, as at court most husbands do> 

cc Forgets his lady fair and true." Motleiix. 

" Now Gayferos at tables playing, 

" Of Melisendra thinks no more." Smollet. 

Caballero, si a Francia ides, 
P<w* Gayferos preguntad. 

" Quoth Melisendra, if perchance, 

" Sir Traveller, you go for France, 

" For pity's sake, ask, when you're there, 

" For Gayferos, my husband dear." Motteux. 

ts Sir Knight, if you to France do go, 
" For Gayferos inquire." Smollet. 

How miserably does the new translation 
sink in the above comparison ! Yet Smollet 
was a good poet, and most of the verse 
translations interspersed through this work 
are executed with ability. It is on this head 
that Motteux has assumed to himself the 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 311 

greatest licence. He has very presumptu- 
ously mutilated the poetry of Cervantes, by 
leaving out many entire stanzas from the 
larger compositions, and suppressing some 
of the smaller altogether : Yet the transla- 
tion of those parts which he has retained, 
is possessed of much poetical merit ; and 
in particular, those verses which are of a 
graver cast, are, in my opinion, superior to 
those of his rival. The song in the first 
volume, which in the original is entitled, (W- 
cioji de GrisSstorno, and which Motteux has 
entitled, The Despairing Lover, is greatly 
abridged by the suppression of more than 
one-half of the stanzas in the original ; but 
the translation, so far as it goes, is highly 
poetical. The translation of this song by 
Smollet, though inferior as a poem, is, per- 
haps, more valuable on the whole, because 
more complete. There is, however, only a 
single passage, in which he maintains with 
Motteux a contest which is nearly equal : 

u4 

O thou, whose cruelty and hate. 

The tortures of my breast proclaim^ 
Behold, how willingly to fate 

I offer this devoted frame. 



312 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII. 

If thou, when I am past all pain, 

Shouldst think my fall deserves a tear, 
Let not one single drop distain 

Those eyes, so killing and so clear. 
No ! rather let thy mirth display 

The joys that in thy bosom glow : 
Ah ! need I bid that heart be gay, 

Which always triumph'd in my woe. Smollet. 

It will be allowed that there is much me- 
rit in these lines, and that the last stanza in 
particular is eminently beautiful and deli- 
cate. Yet there is, in my opinion, an equal 
vein of poetry, and more passion, in the 
corresponding verses of Motteux : 

thou, by whose destructive hate 
I'm hurry' d to this doleful fate, 

When I'm no more, thy pity spare ! 

1 dread thy tears ; oh, spare them then-r* 
But, oh ! I rave, I was too vain — 

My death can never cost a tear ! Motteux* 

In the song of Cardenio, there is a hap- 
py combination of tenderness of expression 
with ingenious thought ; the versification is 
likewise of a peculiar structure, the second 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 313 

line forming an echo to the first. The song 
has been translated in a corresponding mea- 
sure both by Motteux and Smollet ; but by 
the latter with far inferior merit. 



CANCION de CARDENIO. 

L 

Quien menoscaba mis bienes ? 



Y quien aumenta mis duelos f 

Los Zelos* 

Y quien prueba mi paciencia f 

Ausencia, 
De ese modo en ml dokncia, 
Ningun remedio se alcanza, 
Pues me matan la Esperanza, 
Desdenes, Zelos, y Ausencia. 

II. 

Quien me causa este dolor ? 

Amor, 

Y quien mi gloria repuna f 

Fortuna, 

Y quien consiente mi duelo ? 

ElCids. 



314' PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XII, 

De ese modo yo rezeh, 
Morir deste mal extrano f 
Pues se aunan en mi dano 
Amor, Fortuna, y el Cielo. 

III. 

Quien mejorard mi suerte ? 

La Muerie. 

Y el bien de amor, quien le alcanza ? 

Mudanza. 

Y sus malos quien los cura ? 

Locura. 
De ese modo no es cordura 

Querer curar la pasion; 

Quando los remedios son 

Muerte, Mudanza, y Locura. 



CARDENIO'S SONG, by MOTTEUX. 

I. 

What makes me languish and complain ? 

O y 'tis Disdain ! 
What yet more fiercely tortures me ? 

'Tis Jealousy. 
How have I my patience lost ? 

By Absence crost. 
Then, Hope, farewell, there's no relief; 
I sink beneath oppressing grief; 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION 315; 

Nor can a wretch, without despair, 
Scorn, Jealousy, and Absence, bear. 

II. 

What in my breast this anguish drove? 

Intruding Love. 
Who could such mighty ills create ? 

Blind Fortune's hate. 
What cruel powers my fate approve ? 

The Powers above. 
Then let me bear, and cease to moan ; 
'Tis glorious thus to be undone : 
W T hen these invade, who dares oppose ? 
Heavent, Love, and Fortune are my foes. 

III. 

Where shall I find a speedy cure, 

Oh ! Death is sure. 

No milder means to set me free ? 

Inconstancy* 

Can nothing else my pains assuage ? 

Distracting Rage. 

What, die or change ? Lucinda lose ? 

O let me rather madness chuse ! 

But judge, ye gods, what we endure, 

When death or madness are a cure J 



316 PRINCIPLES OF cHap. xir» 

In the last four lines, Motteux has used 
more liberty with the thought of the origi- 
nal than is allowable for a translator. It 
must be owned, however, that he has much 
improved it. 

CAitDENICTs S6NG, by SMOLLET. 

I. 

Ah ! what inspires my woful strain ? 

Unkind disdain! 
Ah I what augments my misery ? 

Fell Jealousy ! 
Or say, what hath my patience worn ? 

An absent lover's scorn ! 
The torments then that I endure 
No mortal remedy can cure : 
For every languid hope is slain 
By Absence, Jealousy, Disdain. 

II. 

From Love, my unrelenting foe, 

These sorrows flow : 
My infant glory's overthrown 

By Fortune's frown. 
Confirm^ in this my wretched state 

By the decrees of Fate, 



X2HAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 317 

In death alone I hope release 
From this compounded dire disease, 
Whose cruel pangs to aggravate, 
Fortune and Love conspire with Fate ? 

Ill 

Ah ! what will mitigate my doom ? 

The silent tomfe, 
Ah ! what retrieve departed joy ? 

Inconstancy ! 
Or say, can ought but frenzy bear 

This tempest of despair I 
All other efforts then are vain 
To cure this soul-tormenting pain, 
That owns no other remedy 
Than madness, death, inconstancy. 

*' The torments then that I endure — no 
u mortal remedy can cure." Who ever 
heard of a mortal remedy? or who could 
expect to be cured by it ? In the next line, 
the epithet of languid is injudiciously gi- 
ven to Hope in this place ; for a languid or 
a languishing hope was already dying, and 
needed not so powerful a host of murder- 
ers to day it, as Absence, Jealousy, and Dis- 
dain. — In short, the latter translation up* 



318 . PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. XII. 

pears to me to be, on the whole, of much 
inferior merit to the former. I have remark- 
ed, that Motteux excels his rival chiefly in 
the translation of those poems that are of a 
graver cast. But perhaps he is censurable 
for having thrown too much gravity into the 
poems that are interspersed in this work; as 
Smollet is blameable on the opposite ac- 
count, of having given them too much the 
air of burlesque. In- the song which Don 
Qyixote composed while he was doing pe- 
nance in the Sierra-Moreno , beginning Ar- 
boles Yerbas y Plant as, every stanza of which 
ends with Del Toboso, the author intended, 
that the composition should be quite cha- 
racteristic of its author, a ludicrous com- 
pound of gravity and absurdity. In the 
translation of Motteux, there is, perhaps, 
too much gravity ; but Smollet has render- 
ed the composition altogether burlesque. 
The same remark is applicable to the song 
of Antonio, beginning Yo se Olalla, que me 
adoras, and to many of the other poems. 

On the whole, I am inclined to think, 
that the version of Motteux is by far the 



CHAP. XII. TRANSLATION. 319 

best we have yet seen of the Romance of 
Cervantes ; and that if corrected in its li- 
centious abbreviations and enlargements, 
and in some other particulars which I have 
noticed in the course of this comparison, we 
should have nothing to desire superior to it 
in the way oi translation. 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 321 



CHAPTER XIIL 



Other Characteristics of Composition, which 
render Translation difficult.— Antiquated 
Terms — New Terms-— -Verba ardentia.— 
Simplicity of Thought and Expression — In 
Prose— In Poetry. — Naivete in the Lat- 
ter. — Chaulieu — Parnell — Theocritus — La 
Fontaine. — Series of Minute Distinctions 
marked by Characteristic Terms. — Strada. 
— Florid Style and Vague Expression. — ■ 
Pliny's Natural History. 

In the two preceding chapters I have treat- 
ed pretty fully of what I consider as a prin- 
cipal difficulty in translation, the permuta- 
tion of idioms. I shall in this chapter touch 
upon several other characteristics of compo- 
se 



322 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII. 

sition , which, in proportion as they are found 
in the original works, serve greatly to en- 
hance the difficulty of doing complete jus- 
tice to them in a translation. 

1. Th poets, in all languages, have a li- 
cence peculiar to themselves, of employing 
a mode of expression very remote from the 
diction of prose, and still more from that of 
ordinary speech. Under this licence, it is 
customary for them to use antiquated terms, 
to invent new ones, and to employ a glow- 
ing and rapturous phraseology, or what Ci- 
cero terms Verba ardentia. To do justice 
to these peculiarities in a translation, by 
adopting similar terms and phrases, will be 
found extremely difficult ; yet without such 
assimilation, the translation presents no just 
copy of the original. It would require no 
ordinary skill to transfuse into another lan- 
guage the thoughts of the following passa- 
ges, in a similar species of phraseology : 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 323 



Antiquated Terms : 

For Nature crescent doth not grow alone 
In thews and bulk ; but as this temple waxes, 
The inward service of the mind and soul 
Grows- wide withal. Perhaps he loves thee now, 
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch . • 

The virtue of his will 

Shak. Hamkt, Act. 1. 

New Terms : 

So over many a tract 

Of heaven they march' d, and many a province wide, 

Tenfold the length of this terrene : at last 

Far in th' horizon to the north appeard 

From skirt to shirt a fiery region, stretcht 

In battailous aspect, and nearer view 

Bristl'd with upright beams innumerable 

Of rigid spears, and helmets throng'd, and shields 

Various with boastful argument pourtrayed. 

Paradise Lost, B. 6, 



All come to this ? the hearts 



That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave 
The wishes, do discandy - — 

Shak. Ant. # Chop. Act 4. Sc. 10. 

x2 



324 



PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII. 



Glowing Phraseology, or Verba ardentia : 

Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er ye are, 
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, 
How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides, 
Your loop d and window'd raggedness defend you 
• From seasons such as these ? Oh, I have ta'en 
Too little care of this : Take physic, pomp ! 
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, 
That thou may'st shake the superflux to them, 
And show the heavens more just. — — 

Shak. K. Lear, 



Tremble, thou wretch, 



That hast within thee undivulged crimes, 
Unwhipt of justice ! Hide thee, thou bloody hand ; 
Thou perjure, and thou simular of virtue, 
That art incestuous ! Caitiff, shake to pieces, 
That under covert and convenient seeming 
Hast practis'd on man's life ! Close pent up guilts, 
Rive your concealing continents, and ask 
Those dreadful summoners grace. Ibid. 

Can any mortal mixture of Earth's mould, 
Breathe such divine, enchanting ravishment ? 
Sure something holy lodges in that breast. 
And with these raptures moves the vocal air 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 325 

To testify his hidden residence : 

How sweetly did they float upon the wings 

Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night; 

At every fall smoothing the raven down 

Of darkness till it smil'd : I have oft heard, 

Amidst the flow'ry-kirtled Naiades, 

My mother Circe, with the Sirens three, 

Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, 

Who, as they sung, would take the prison' d soul 

And lap it in Elysium. 

But such a sacred, and home-felt delight, 

Such sober certainty of waking bliss, 

I never heard till now, 

Milton's Comus. 

2. There is nothing more difficult to imi- 
tate successfully in a translation than that 
species of composition which conveys just, 
simple, and natural thoughts, in plain, un- 
affected, and perfectly appropriate terms ; 
and which rejects all those aucupia sermonis, 
those lenocinia verborum? which constitute 
what is properly termed florid or fine revi- 
ling. It is much easier to imitate in a trans- 
lation that kind of composition, (provided it 
be at all intelligible *), which is brilliant and 

* I add this qualification not without reason, as I intend 
afterwards to give an example of a species of florid writing) 

x3 



326 PRINCIPLES OP CHAP. XIII. 

rhetorical, which employs frequent antitheses, 
allusions, similes, metaphors, than it is to give 
a perfect copy of just, apposite, and natural 
sentiments which are clothed in pure and 
simple language : For the former characters 
are strong and prominent, and therefore 
easily caught ; whereas the latter have no 
striking attractions ; their merit eludes alto- 
gether the general observation, and is dis- 
cernible only to the most correct and chas- 
tened taste. 

It would be difficult to approach to the 
beautiful simplicity of expression of the fol- 
lowing passages, in any translation. 

" In those vernal seasons of the year, 
" when the air is calm and pleasant, it were 
" an injury and sullenness against Nature, 
" not to go out to see her riches, and par- 
" take in her rejoicing with heaven and 
" earth." Milton's Tractate of Education. 



which is difficult to be translated, because its meaning cannot 
be apprehended with precision. 



CHAP. XIII. TKAKSLATIOK. 32? 

" Can I be made capable of such great 
" expectations, which those animals know 
u nothing of, (happier by far in this regard 
*' than I am, if we must die alike), only to be 
** disappointed at last ? Thus placed, just 
" upon the confines of an other, better world, 
u and fed with hopes of penetrating into it, 
*' and enjoying it, only to make a short ap- 
u pearance here, and then to be shut out 
" and totally sunk ? Must I then, when I 
w bid my last farewell to these walks, when 
a I close these lids, and yonder blue re- 
" gions and all this scene darken upon me 
" and go out ; must I then only serve to 
" furnish dust to be mingled with the ashes 
4i of these herds and plants, or with this 
" dirt under my feet ? Have I been set so 
" far above them in life, only to be levelled 
" with them at death ?." Wollaston's ReL 
of Nature, sect. ix. 

3. The union of just and delicate senti- 
ments with simplicity of expression, is more 
rarely found in poetical composition than in 
prose; because the enthusiasm of poetry 
prompts rather to what is brilliant than what 

x4 



328 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII. 

is just, and is always led to clothe its concep- 
tions in that species of figurative language 
which is very opposite to simplicity. It is 
natural, therefore, to conclude, that in those 
few instances which are to be found of a 
chastened simplicity of thought and ex- 
pression in poetry the difficulty of trans- 
fusing the same character into a translation 
will be great, in proportion to the difficulty 
of attaining it in the original. 

It is not easy to imitate in any transla- 
tion the beautiful simplicity which charac- 
terises the following descriptive passage in 
the eighth eclogue of Virgil : 

Sepibus in nostris, parvam te roscida mala, 
(Dux ego vester eram,) vidi cum matre legentem : 
Alter ab undecimo turn me jam ceperat annus ; 
Jam fragiles poteram a terra, contingere ramos : 
Ut vidi, ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error ! 

The kindred genius of Tasso in a corre- 
sponding passage of his Aminta, has here 
happily rivalled his master : 

Essendo io fanciulletto si che a pena 
Giunger potea con la man pargollett^ 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 329 

A corre i frutti dai piegati rami 

Da gli arboscelli, intrinseco divenni 

De la piu vaga e cara virginella 

Che mai spiegasse al vento chioma d'oro. 

Of a similar character, and therefore alike 
difficult to be justly translated, is that beau- 
tiful description of the night, in the fourth 
book of the iEneid : 

Nox erat, et placidum carpebant fessa soporem 
Corpora per terras,, sylvaeque et saeva quierant 
jEquora ; cum medio volvuntur sidera lapsu : 
Cum tacet omnis ager, pecudes, pictaeque volucres, 
Quaeque lacus late liquidos, quaeque aspera dumis 
Rura tenent, somno positae sub nocte silenti 
Lenibant curas, et corda oblita laborum. 

Of the same character are the following 
beautiful passages from Chaulieu : 

Fontenay, lieu delicieux, 
Oa je vis d'abord la Iumiere, 
Bientot au bout de ma carriere, 
Chez toi je joindrai mes ayeux. 
Muses, qui dans ce lieu champetre 
Avec soin me fites nourrir, 



380 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII* 

Beaux arbres, qui m'avez vu naitre, 
Bientot vous me verrez mourir. 

Les fouanges de la vie champetre* 



Je touche aux derniers instans 
De mes plus belles annees, 
Et tieja de mdn printems 
Toutes les fleurs sont fanees. 
Je ne vois., et n'en visage 
Pour mon arriere saison, 
Que le malheur d'etre sage,, 
Et l'inutile avantage 
De connoitre la raison. 



Autrefois mon ignorance 
Me fournissoit des plaisirs ; 
Les erreurs de l'esperance 
Faisoient naitre mes desirs. 
A present 1' experience 
M'apprend que la jouissance 
De nos biens les plus parfaitSj 
Ne vaut pas l'impatience, 
Ni Tardeur de nos souhaits. 
La Fortune a ma jeunesse 
Offrit l'eclat des grandeurs ; 
Comme un autre avec souplesse^ 
J'aurois brigue ses faveurs. 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 331 

Mais sur le peu de merite 
De ceux qu' elle a bien traites, 
J'eus honte de la poursuite 
De ses aveugles bontes ; 
Et je passai, quoique donne 
D'eclat, et pourpre, et couronne, 
Du mepris de la personne, 
Au mepris des d ignites *. 

Poesies diverses de Chaulieu, p. 44. 



* The following translation of these verses by Parnell, is 
at once a proof that this pleasing poet felt the characteristic 
merit of the original, and that he was unable completely t# 
attain it. 

My change arrives ; the change I meet 

Before I thought it nigh : 
My spring, my years of pleasure fleet. 

And all their beauties die. 
In age I search, and only find 

A poor unfruitful gain, 
Grave wisdom stalking slow behind, 

Oppressed with loads of pain. 

.My ignorance could once beguile, 

And fancied joys inspire ; 
My errors cherish'd hope to smile 

On newly-born desire. 



832 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII, 

Of a. similar character to that of the pre- 
ceding examples, is that beautiful moral 



But now experience shews the bliss 

For which I fondly sought, 
Not worth the long impatient wish 

And ardour of the thought. 

My youth met fortune fair array'd, 

In all her pomp she shone, 
And might, perhaps, have well essay 'd 

To make her gifts my own. 
But when I saw the blessings show'r 

On some unwilling mind, 
I left the chace, and own'd the pow'r 

Was justly painted blind. 

I pass'd the glories which adorn 

The splendid courts of kings, 
And while the persons mov'd my scorn, 

I rose to scorn the things. 

In this translation, which has the merit of faithfully trans- 
fusing the sense of the original, with a great portion of its 
Simplicity of expression, the following couplet is a very faulty 
deviation from that character of the style. 

My errors cherish'd hope to smile 
On newly-born desire. 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 33& 

thought in the Elegy on Bion, by Theocri- 
tus or Moschus, of which the simplicity of 
the expression is so consonant to the ten- 
derness of the sentiment : 

Ah at, rot,} {LoCko\ytLi ^iv y \i:o\v zoclct ztiftoy oXavjou 
'H to\ j/kwgci (TzKivct, to t ivQcCkzg %\ov av7i6ov 9 
"iTfegov ocu Zpovli) Tcoii Big irog aAAo <pvov]i' 
' Ap&zg (foi {A&yoiXoi zou kcl^i^oi rj <ro(poi oitysg, 
'QTrTrore ngarct, Bocyafteg, avcczoot iv yjBovt zo'iXcx, 
"JLvdopusg iv [aoiXoi {Aotzgov olrzgfAova, vqygilov vimo*. 

This fine passage, which draws a sympa- 
thetic accord from every human breast, has 
been translated and imitated, perhaps, more 
frequently than any other in the works of 
the ancients. I know not, if it has ever 
met with greater justice than in the follow- 
ing translation by Helius Eobanus, in his 
Latin version of the Idyllia of Theocritus : 

Hei mihi, quod malvae virides et adhuc redolentes 
Atque apium viride, et quod totum floret anethum, 
Saepe reviviscunt, et in annum deinde reverso 
Sole renascuntur : nos magni, nosque potentes 



S34 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XIII. 



Quum semel occidimus, quam primum fata subimus, 
Condimur in terrain, atque intra cava busta reclusi 
Perpetuo durum dorraimus tempore somnum *. 



* The inspired writer of the book of Job has conveyed the 
same sentiment, in language which has added the sublime to 
the simply beautiful : Thus happily expressed in the Septua- 
gint translation. 

1. Bgojog yu.% ymnlos yvvotiKo$> oXtyefiiog, kcc) ttA^j »§yifc' 

2. *H wV?rsg ccvQos ccv67}<rec9 £|s9T£c"gv> et7riO£& 05 uxr-ai^ crux, xxi ou 

7. £s"i yu% $gy$g0 IXsrtg, luy yoi(> hoco-ay, in bravDnotf, xau o f>tc~ 
Sccpvos xvrS ov py) \x.Xu7rv\. 

8. 'Eoiv ya.^ yug&try Iv yy n yi^ee, avrtt, h ol mr(>o6 TiXsvliirr, to rsto- 

£0$ MVTfiy 

Q. 'A^ro orftife v^otlos otvSvtrzi, %-oi^<rii ol fagurf&h, &»Wgg noQvloV 
10. 'Av>jg £s TiXtvlvrxs 6>xfl*> &&<*>* & Prolog hx, in lerri. 

1. Man that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of 
trouble. 

2. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down : he fli- 
eth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 

7. For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will 
sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not 
cease. 

8- Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the 
stock thereof die in the ground : 

9. Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and will bring 
forth boughs like a plant. 

10. But man dieth, and wastethaway: yea, man giveth 
up the ghost, and where is he ? 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 335 

4. The foregoing examples exhibit a spe- 
cies of composition, which uniting just and 
natural sentiments with simplicity of ex- 
pression, preserves at the same time a con- 
siderable portion of elevation and dignity, 
But there is another species of composition, 
which, possessing the same union of natural 
sentiments with simplicity of expression, is 
essentially distinguished from the former, 
by its always partaking in a considerable 
degree of comic humour. This is that kind 
of writing which the French characterise by 
the term ndij\ and for which we have no 
perfectly corresponding expression in Eng». 
lish. " Le naif," says Fontenelle, " est une 
" nuance du bas *." 



* Marmontel disputes this opinion, and holds that there 
may be a naivete noble, of which he gives an example in the 
scene between Joas and Athalie : "Joas. Quel pere je quit- 

* terois ! et pour Ath. Eh bien ? Joas. Pour quelle 

ee mere !" This may be termed a noble ingenuity ; but it- 
has too much grandeur to come under the description of 
naivete. Voltaire likewise is of opinion that there may be 
a naivete without any mixture of lowness ; and gives an ex- 
ample from his own writings, which, perhaps, will not gene- 
rally be thought a very happy one. In a letter to M. D'Ar- 



386 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP; -XIII. 



In the following fable of Phaedrus, there 
is a naivety which I think it is scarcely pos- 
sible to transfuse into any translation : 

Inops potentem dnm vult imitari, perit. 

In prato quaedam rana conspexit bovem ; 
Et, tacta invidia tanta? magnitudinis, 
Rugosam inflavit pellem ; turn natos suos 
Interrogavit, an bove esset latior. 
llli negarunt. Rursus intendit cutem 



gental, in allusion to the character of Sanckette, in his co- 
medy of La Princtsse de Navarre, he says, <{ Comment avez 
" vous pu jamais imaginer que le has put se glisser dans ce 
** role ? Comment est-ce que la naivete d'une jeune personne 
fe ignorante, et a qui le nom seul de la cour tourne la tete, 
" peut tomber dans le bas ? ne voulez vous pas distinguer le 
** bas du families et le na'if de Tun et de l'autre ?° These 
remarks are in this instance at least, misapplied ; and are 
evidently the fruit of an author's partiality for his own com- 
positions. The character which he is thus endeavouring 
to vindicate, will probably appear faulty to every reader of 
taste, in respect of its lowness and absurdity. Should we 
desire an example of the true naif with the least possible in- 
termixture of the low, we have it in the admirably drawn 
character of Emily Jarvis in Richardson's Sir Charles Gran* 
dison. 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 387 

Majore nisu,,et simili quaesivit modo 
Qnis major esset ? Illi dixerunt, bovent. 
Novissime indignata, dum vult validius 
Inflare sese, rupto jacuit corpore. 

It would be extremely difficult to attain, 
in any translation, the laconic brevity with 
which this storv is told. There is not a 
single word which can be termed superflu- 
ous ; yet there is nothing wanting to com- 
plete the effect of the picture. The gra- 
vity, likewise, of the narrative, when ap- 
plied to describe an action of the most con- 
summate absurdity ; the self-important, but 
anxious questions, and the mortifying dry- 
ness of the answers, furnish an example of 
a delicate species of humour, which cannot 
easily be conveyed by corresponding terms 
in another language. La Fontaine was bet- 
ter qualified than any other for this attempt. 
He saw the merits df the original, and has 
endeavoured to rival them ; but even La 
Fontaine has failed : 

Une Grenouille vit un boeuf 
Qui lui sembla de belle taille. 



338 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII. 

Elle, qui n'etoit pas grosse en tout comme un oeuf, 
Envieuse s'etend, et s'enfle, et se travaille, 

Pour egaler l'animal en grosseur ; 

Disant, Regardez bien ma soeui^ 
Est-ce assez, dites moi, n'y suis-je pas encore ? 
Nenni. M'y voila done ? Point du tout. M'y voila ? 
Vous n'en approchez point. La chetive pecore 

S'enfla si bien quelle creva. 

Le monde est plein de gens qui ne sont pas plus sages : 
Tout bourgeois veut batir comme les grands seigneurs ; 
Tout prince a des ambassadeurs, 
Tout marquis veut avoir des pages. 

But La Fontaine himself, when original^ 
may equally defy the powers of a translator. 
The source of that naivete, which is the cha- 
racteristic of his fables, has been ingenious- 
ly developed by Marmontel : " Ce n'est 
" pas un poete qui imagine, ce n'est pas un 
" conteur qui plaisante ; e'est un temoin 
" present a Taction, et qui veut vous rendre 
" pr6sent vous-meme. II met tout en 
" oeuvre de la meillure foi du monde pour 
" vous persuader ; et ce sont tous ces efforts, 
" e'est le serieux avec lequel il m£le les plus 
" grandes choses avec les plus petites ; 
" e'est l'importance qu'il attache a des 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 339 

" jeux d'enfans ; c'est Finter6t qu'il prend 
" pour un lapin et une belette, qui font 
" qu'on est tente de s'6crier a chaque in- 
" stant, Le bon homme ! On le disoit de lui 
" dans la societe. Son caractere n'a fait 
" que passer dans ses fables. C'est du fond 
" de ce caractere que sont emanes ces tours 
" si naturels, ces expressions si naives, ces 
u images si fideles." 

It would seem almost impossible to do 
justice in a translation to the natural and 
easy humour which characterises the dia- 
logue in the following fable : 



Les Animaux malades de la Pesie, 

Un mal qui repand la terreur, 

Mai que le ciel en sa fureur 

Inventa pour punir les crihies de la terre, 

La Peste, (puis qu'il faut l'apeller par son nom), 

Capable d'enrichir en un jour 1' Acheron, 

Faisoit aux animaux la guerre. 
«ls ne mouroient pas tous, mais tous etoient frappes, 

Y 2 



340 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII. 

On n'en voyoit point d'occupes 

A chercher le soutien d'une raourante vie ; 

Nul raets n'excitoit leur envie. 

Ni loups ni renards n'epioient 
La douce et l'innocente proye. 

Les tourterelles se fuyoient ; 

Plus d'amour, partant plus de joye. . 
Le Lion tint conseil, et dit, Mes chers amis, 

Je crois que le ciel a permis 

Pour nos peches cette infortune : 

Que le plus coupable de nous 
Se sacrifie aux traits du celeste courroux ; 
Peutetre il obtiendra la guerison commune. 
L'histoire nous apprend qu'en de tels accidens^ 

On fait de pareils devouemens ; 
Ne nous flattons done point, voyons sans indulgence 

L'etat de notre conscience. 
Pour moi, satisfaisant mes appetits gloutons 

J'ai devore force moutons j 

Que m'avoient-ils fait ? Nulle offense : 
Meme il m'est arrive quelquefois de manger le Berger, 
Je me devourai done, s'ils le faut ; mais je pense 
Qu'il est bon que chacun s'accuse ainsi que moi ; 
Car on doit souhaiter, selon toute justice, 

Que le plus coupable perisse. 
Sire, dit le Renard, vous etes trop bon roi ; 
Vos scrupules font voir trop de delicatesse ; 
Eh bien, manger moutons, canaille, sotte espece . 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. I 341 

Est-ce un peche ? Non, non : Vous leur fites, seigneur, 

En les croquant beaucoup d'honneur : 
Et quant au Berger, Ton peut dire 
Qu il etoit digne de tous maux, 
Etant de ees gens-la qui sur les animaux 

Se font un chimerique empire. 
Ansi dit le Renard, et flatteurs d'applaudir. 

On n'osa trop approfondir 
Du Tigre, ni de l'Ours, ni des autres puissances 

Les moins pardonnables offenses. 
Tous les gens querelleurs, jusqu'aux simple matins 
. Au dire de chacun, etoient de petits saints. 
L'ane vint a son tour, et dit, J'ai souvenance 

Qu'en un pre de moines passant, 
La faim, l'occasion, l'herbe tendre, et je pense 

Quelque diable aussi me poussant, 
Je tondis de ce pre la largeur de ma langue : 
Je n'en avois mil droit ; puisqu'il faut parler net. 
A ces mots on cria haro sur le baudet : 
Un Loup quelque peu clerc prouva par sa harangue 
Qu'il falloit devoiier ce maudit animal, 
Ce pele, ce galeux, d'ou venoit tout leur mal. 
Sa peccadille fut jugee un cas pendable ; 
Manger l'herbe d'autrui, quel crime abominable ! 

Rien que la mort n'etoit capable 
I^expier son forfait, on le lui fit bien voir. 
Selon que vous serez puissant ou miserable, 
J,es jugemens de cour vous rendront blanc ou nojr. 

y 3 



342 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XIIL 



The French critics have ranked La Fon- 
taine among those authors whom it is impos- 
sible to translate. An ingenious writer, 
Mr Thiebault, thus assigns the reason : 
" Le merite de ce poete est trop intime- 
" ment fonde dans le genie et toutes les 
" delicatesses de notre langue, pour que 
" des etrangers puissent le bien sentir. La 
" Fontaine est done celui de nos po'etes, 
" envers lequel on est le plus injuste hors 
" de France, par la meme raison qui ne 
nous permet d'en parler que dans les 
termes de la plus vive admiration. C'est 
encore pour la meme raison que je le 
" place a la tete de tous les auteurs qui 
" sont essentiellement intraduisibles. Par- 
" tout il decouvre et saisit l'expression et 
" le tour qui semblent faits pour l'objet et 
" pour la nuance de sentiment qu'il veut 
u rendre. La Fontaine est le plus Fran9ais 
" de tous nos ecrivains *." 



u 



a 



a 



* Souvenirs de 20 ans a Berlin, par Thiebault, vol i, 
p. 162. 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSITION. 343 

Desbillons, an author of very high merit 
among the modern Latin poets, who rivals, 
in4iis Fahuke TEsopice, the naivete of Phas- 
drus, and who unites to that quality an ele- 
gance, tenderness, and even dignity of 
composition, together with the purest La- 
tinity *, has adopted many of the fables of 
La Fontaine ; but judiciously limiting him- 
self to an imitation of the manner of his 
original he never attempts to discharge the 
duty of a translator. If we compare his 
TielliKB pestilentid laboranies, with its origi- 
nal, Les animaux malades de la peste, (above 
inserted), we shall have a just idea of per- 
fect imitation, as distinguished from poeti- 
cal translation f . 

Of a similar character for perfect naivety 
is an exquisite fable, entitled Asinas Judex, 

y4 



* In justification of this praise, the reader is referred to 
the Fable,, entitled Philomela, Corvus et Bubo, at NO. 4. of 
the Appendix. 

^ See Appendix, NO. 5, 



344 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII. 

which Menage has inserted with just enco- 
mium in his Anti-Baillet ; and which I am 
persuaded every reader of taste will forgive 
me for here introducing : 



Asinus Ji de&\ 
Tabula Commerii. (Pere Commire.) 

Animalia inter orta cum contentio 
Magna esset olim, sedet asinus arbiter ; 
Quippe aurium mensura liberation 
Et ore toto fusa simplicitas, probi 
Atque patientis judicis spem fecerant. 

Primae ad tribunal se novum sistunt apes^ 
Direpta questae mella fucorum dolo, 
Cellasque inanes. Innocentes ille apes 
Voce altiore, ceu nocentes, increpat : 
Fucosque labis integros pronuncians, 
Dat habere ceras, et favis apum frui. 

Clangore post haec anser obstrepens gravi, 

Dato libello supplice, orat ut sibi 

Sociisque liceat flumina. et lacus sacros. 

Cignis repulsis, colere. Praeses annuit, 
Ecce Philomelen Gracculus lacesserej 

Et vocis audax poscere sibi gloriam. 

Litem, inquit, asini finiat sententia. 

Jubentur ambo canere. Luscinia incipit^ 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION, 345 

Aniraosque teneris omnium ac sensus modis 
Demulcet. Ipsae carmine inflexae caput, 
Et lenta motant brachia in numerum llices. 
Necquicquam. Ineptis plus probatur auribus, 
Rude murmur atque stridor absurdae alitis. 
Quid multa ? fortem vicit, illo judice, 
Columbus aquilam. Pulchrior picto fuit 
Pavone corvus : ovis lupo voracior. 
Viilpes, iniqua scita sibilantibus, 
Aliud ab illo nil, ait, speraveramj 
Cujus palato carduus gratum sapit. 



There are here many strokes of the true 
naivete, which is the characteristic of a good 
fable, and of which Phsedrus is the perfect 
model. The 3d, 4th and 5th lines are pe- 
culiarly happy. The judge never hears 
more than one side, and instantly decides 
in a high tone of confident absurdity. The 
Goose demands exclusive possession of the 
waters, and the expulsion of the Swans ; 
Prdfscs annuit. The Bees complain that the 
Drones consume the fruit of their labour. 
The Judge instantly condemns the Bees 
to banishment, and decrees full possession 



346 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII. 

of the hives and combs to the Drones. 
The Fox draws the moral very happily : 

Aliud ab illo nil, ait, speraveram, 
Cujus palato carduus gratum sapit. 

What powers must the writer possess who 
is capable of doing full justice to this ex- 
quisite morsel in any translation ! 

5. No compositions will be found more 
difficult to be translated, than those descrip- 
tions, in which a series of minute distinc- 
tions are marked by characteristic terms, 
each peculiarly appropriated to the thing to 
be designed, but many of them so nearly 
synonymous, or so approaching to each 
other, as to be clearly understood only by 
those who possess the most critical know- 
ledge of the language of the original, and a 
very competent skill in the subject treated of. 
I have always regarded Strada's contest of 
the Musician and Nightingale, as a compo- 
sition which almost bids defiance to the art 
of a translator. The reader will easily per- 
ceive the extreme difficulty of giving the 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 347 

full, distinct, and appropriate meaning of 
those expressions marked in Italics. 

Jam Sol a medio pronus deflexerat orbe, 

Mitius e radiis vibrans crinalibus ignem : 

Cum fidicen propter Tiberina fluenta, sonanti 

Lenibat plectro curas, aestumque levabat, 

Ilice defensus nigra, scenaque virenti. 

Audiit hunc hospes sylvae philomeia propinquae, 

Musa loci, nemoris Siren, inoxia Siren ; 

Et prope succedens stetit abdita frondibus, alte 

Accipiens sonitum, seciimque remurmurat, et quos 

Ille modos variat digitis, hasc gutture reddit. 

Sensit se fidicen philomeia imitante referri, 
Et placuit ludum volucri dare ; plenius ergo 
Explorat citharam, tentamentumque futurae 
Praebeat ut pugnae, percurrit protinus omnes 
Impulsu pernice fides. Nee segnius ilia 
Mille per excurrens variae discrimina vocis, 
Venturi specimen praefert argutula cantus. 

Tunc fidicen per fila movens trepidantia dextram.. 
Nunc contemnenti similis diverberat ungue, 
Depectitque pari chordas et simplice ductu : 
Nunc carptim replicat, digitisque micantibus urget, 
Fila minutatim, celerique repercutit ictu. 
Mox silet. Ilia modis totidem respondet, et artem 



348 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII, 

Arte refert. Nunc, ceu rudis aut incerta canendi, 
Projicit in longum nulloque plicatile jiexu, 
Carmen init simili serie, jugique tenore 
Prsebet iter liquidum labenti e pectore voci : 
Nunc ccesim variat, modulisque canora minutis 
Delibrat vocem, tremuloque reciprocat ore. 

Miratur fidicen parvis e faucibus ire 
Tarn varium, tarn duke melos : majoraque tentans, 
Alternat mira artejides; dum torquet acutas 
Inciditque, graves operoso verbere pulsat, 
Permiscetque simul certantia rauca sonoris ; 
Ceu resides in bella viros clangore lacessat. 
Hoc etiam philomela canit : dumque ore liquenti 
Vibrat acuta sonum, modidisque interplicat oequis ; 
Ex inopinato gravis intonat, et leve murmur 
Turbinat introrsus, alternantique sonore, 
Clarat et infuscal 3 ceu martia classica pulset. 

Scilicet erubuit fidicen., iraque calente, 
Aut non hoc, inquit, referes, citharistia sylvae, 
Aut fracta cedam cithara. Nee plura locutus, 
Non imitabilibus plectrum concentibus urget. 
Namque manu per fila volat, simul hos, simul illos 
Explorat numeros, chordaque laborat in omni ; 
Et strepit et tinnit, crescitque superbius, et se 
Multiplicat relegens, plenoque choreumate plaudit. 
Turn stetit expectans si quid paret aemula contra. 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 849 

Ilia autem, quanquam vox dudum exercita fauces 
Asperat, impatiens vinci, simul advocat omnes 
Necquicquam vires : nam dum discrimina tanta 
Reddere tot fidium nativa et simplice tentat 
Voce, canaliculisque imitari grandia parvis, 
Impar magnanimis ausis, imparque 4olori, 
Deficit, et vitam summo in certamine linquens, 
Victoris cadit in plectrum, par nacta sepulchrum. 

He that should attempt a translation of 
this most artful composition, dum ieniat 
discrimina tanta reddere , would probably, 
like the nightingale, find himself impar mag- 
nanimis amis m . 

It must be here remarked, that Strada 



* The attempt, however, has been made. Without men- 
tioning the miserable imitation by Ambrose Philips in his fifth 
Eclogue, there is, in a little volume, entitled Prolusiones Poe<> 
iicce, by the Reverend T. Bancroft, printed at Chester 1788.; 
a version of the Fidicinis et Philomelas certametij which will 
please every reader of taste, who forbears to compare it with 
the original; and in the Poems of Pattison, the ingenious author 
of the Epistle of Ahelard to Eloisa, is a fable, entitled, The 
Nightingale and Shephe?*d, imitated from Strada. But these 
performances serve only to convince us, that a perfect trans- 
lation of that composition is a thing almost impossible., 



350 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII. 

has not the merit of originality in this cha- 
racteristic description of the song of the 
Nightingale. He found it in Pliny, and 
with still greater amplitude, and variety of 
discrimination. He seems even to have ta- 
ken from that author the hint of his fable : 
" Digna miratu avis. Primum, tanta vox 
" tarn parvo in corpusculo, tarn pertinax 
" spiritus. Deinde in una perfecta musicas 
" scientia modulatus editur sonus > et nunc 
" continuo spiritu trahitur in longum, nunc 
" variatur inflexo, nunc distinguitur conci-* 
" so, copulatur intorto, promittitur revoca- 
44 to, infuscatur ex inopinato : interdum et 
" secum ipse murmurat, plenus, gravis, acu- 
" tus, creber, extentus ; ubi visum est vi- 
M brans, summus, medius, imus. Breviter- 
" que omnia tarn parvulis in faucibus, quae 
" tot exquisitis tibiarum tormentis ars ho- 
" minum excogitavit. — Certant inter se, pa^ 
" lamque animosa contentio est. Victa 
" morte finit saspe vitam, spiritu prius defi- 
" ciente quam cantu." Plin. Nat. Hist* 
lib. 10. c. 29. 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 351 

It would perhaps be as difficult to give a 
perfect translation of this passage from Pli- 
ny, as of the fable of Strada. The attempt, 
however, has been made by an old English 
author, Philemon Holland ; and it is curi- 
ous to remark the extraordinary shifts to 
which he has been reduced in the search of 
corresponding expressions : 

Explorat numeros, chorddque laborat in omni. 

" Surely this bird is not to be set in the 
" last place of those that deserve admira- 
" tion : for is it not a wonder, that so loud 
u and clear a voice should come from so 
" little a body ? Is it not as strange, that 
" shee should hold her wind so long, and 
" continue with it as shee doth ? More- 
" over, shee alone in her song keepeth time 
" and measure truly, shee riseth and falleth 
" in her note just with the rules of music, 
" and perfect harmony ; for one while, in 
" one entire breath she draws out her tune 
" at length treatable ; •another while she 
" quavereth, and goeth away as fast in her 
" running points : sometimes shee maketh 



352 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XIII. 



" stops and short cuts in her notes ; ano- 
" ther time she gathereth in her wind, and 
" singeth descant between the plain song : 
" she fetcheth in her breath again, and then 
" you shall have her in her catches and di- 
" visions : anon, all on a sudden, before a 
" man would think it, she drowneth her 
a voice that one can scarce hear her ; now 
" and then she seemeth to record to herself, 
" and then she breaketh out to sing volun^ 
" tarie. In sum, she varieth and altereth 
" her voice to all keies : one while full of 
" her largs, longs, briefs, semibriefs, and 
" minims ; another while in her crotchets^ 
" quavers* semiquavers, and double semi- 
" quavers : for at one time you shall hear 
" her voice full of loud, another time as 
" low ; and anon shrill and on high ; thick 
" and short when she list ; drawn out at 
" leisure again when she is disposed ; and 
" then, (if she be so pleased), shee riseth 
u and mounteth up aloft, as it were with a 
M wind organ. Thus she altereth from one 
u to another, and sings all parts, the treble, 
" the mean, and the base. To conclude, 
" there is not a pipe or instrument devised 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION, 353 

" with all the art and cunning of man, that 
" can affoord more musick than this pretty 
" bird doth out of that little throat of hers. 
" — -They strive who can do best, and one 
" laboureth to excel another in variety of 
" song and long continuance ; yea and evi- 
" dent it is that they contend in good ear- 
" nest with all their will and power : for 
" oftentimes she that hath the worse, and is 
" not able to hold out with another, dieth 
" for it, and sooner giveth she up her vital 
" breath than giveth over her song." 

The consideration of the above passage 
in the original, leads to the following re- 
mark. 

5. There is no species of writing so dif- 
ficult to be translated, as that where the 
character of the style is florid, and the ex- 
pression consequently vague, and of inde- 
finite meaning. The Natural History of 
Pliny furnishes innumerable examples of 
this fault ; (the worst that can occur in a 
history of art and science, to which a per- 
spicuous diction is most essential) : and 



354 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XIII. 



hence that work will ever be found one of 
the most difficult to be translated. A short 
chapter shall be here analized, as an in- 
structive specimen, 



Lib. 11. Cap. 2. 



In magnis siquidem corporibus, aut certe 
majoribus, facilis officina sequaci materia 
fuit. In his tarn parvis atque tarn nullis, 
quae ratio, quanta vis, quam inextricabilis 
perfectio ! Ubi tot sensus collocavit in cu- 
lice ? Et sunt alia dictu minora. Sed 
ubi visum in eo prastendit ? Ubi gustatum 
applicavit ? Ubi odoratum inseruit ? Ubi 
vero truculentam illam et portione maxi- 
mam vocem ingenei avit ? Qua subtilitate 
pennas adnexuit ? Praelongavit pedum cru- 
ra ? disposuit jejunam caveam, uti alvum ? 
Avidam sanguinis et potissimum humani 
sitim accendit ? Telum vero perfodiendo 
tergori, quo spiculavit ingenio ? Atque ut 
in capaci, cum cerni non possit exilitas, ita 
reciproca geminavit arte, ut fodiendo acu- 
minatum, pariter sorbendoque fistulosum 



<*HAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 355 

esset. Quos teredini ad perforanda ro- 
bora cum sono teste dentes affixit? Po- 
tissimumque e ligno cibatum fecit? Sed 
turrigeros elephantorum miramur humeros, 
taurorumque colla, et truces in sublime jac- 
tus, tigrium rapinas, leonum jubas ; cum 
rerum natura nusquam magis quam in mi- 
nimis tota sit. Qiiapropter quseso, ne hasc 
legentes, quoniam ex his spernunt multa, 
etiam relata fastidio damnent, cum in con- 
templatione naturae, nihil possit videri su- 
pervacuum. 

Although, after the perusal of the whole 
of this chapter, we are at no loss to under- 
stand its general meaning, yet when it is 
taken to pieces, we shall find it extremely 
difficult to give a precise interpretation, 
much less an elegant translation of its single 
sentences. The latter indeed may be ac- 
counted impossible, without the exercise of 
such liberties as will render the version ra- 
ther a paraphrase than a translation. In 
magnis siquidem corporibm^ ami certe majo- 
ribus, facilis officina sequaci materice fuit. 
The sense of the term magnus, which is in 

z2 



356 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIII. 

itself indefinite, becomes in this sentence 
much more so, from its opposition to major ; 
and the reader is quite at a loss to know, 
whether in those two classes of animals, the 
magm and the majtres, the largest animals 
are signified by the former term, or by the 
latter. Had the opposition been between 
magnus and maaimu>\ or major and maximum 
there could not have been the smallest 
ambiguity. Facilis nffjcina sequaci materia 
fuit. Officina is the workhouse where an 
artist exercises his crait ; but no author, ex- 
cept Pliny himself, ever employed it to sig- 
nify the labour of the artist. With a si- 
milar incorrectness of expression, which, 
however, is justified by general use, the 
French employ cuisine to signify both the 
place where victuals are dressed, and the 
art of dressing them. Sequax materia sig- 
nifies pliable materials, and therefore easily 
wrought ; but the term sequax cannot be 
applied with any propriety to such mate- 
rials as are easily wrought, on account of 
their magnitude or abundance. Tarn parvis 
is easily understood, but tarn mil lis has ei- 
ther no meaning at all, or a very obscure 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 357 

one. Tnextricabi/is perfection It is no per- 
fection in any thing to be inextricable ; 
for the meaning of inextricable is, embroil- 
ed, perplexed, and confounded. Ubi tot cen- 
sus collocavit in culice ? What is the mean- 
ing of the question ubi ? Does it mean, in 
what part of the body of the gnat ? I con- 
ceive it can mean nothing else : And if so, 
the question is absurd ; for all the senses 
of a gnat are not placed in any one part of 
its body, anymore than the senses of a man. 
Die hi minora. By these words the author 
intended to convey the meaning of alia etiam 
minora possunt did ; but the meaning which 
he has actually conveyed is, Sunt alia mi- 
nora quam qua dim possunt, which is false 
and hyperbolical ; for no insect is so small 
that words may not be found to convey an 
idea of its size. Portione maximam vocem 
ingeneravif. What is portione maximam ? 
It is only from the context that we guess 
the author's meaning to be, maximam ra- 
tione portion! s^ i. e. magnitudinis insecti ; 
for neither use, nor the analogy of the lan- 
guage, justify such an expression as vocem 
maximam portione. If it is alleged, that 

zS 



358 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XIII, 



portio is here used to signify the power or 
intensity of the voice, and is synonymous in 
this place to w$; hsgyeia, we may safely as- 
sert, that this use of the term is licentious, 
improper, and unwarranted by custom. Je- 
juna m caveam uti ahum ; " a hungry cavity 
" for a belly :" but is not the stomach of 
all animals a hungry cavity, as well as that 
of the gnat ? Capaci cum cernere non potest 
exilitas. Capax is improperly contrasted 
with exilis, and cannot be otherwise trans- 
lated than in the sense of magnns. Reci- 
proca geminavit arte is incapable of any 
translation which shall render the proper 
sense of the words, " doubled with recipro- 
cal art." The author's meaning is, fitted 
" for a double function." Cum so?io teste 
is guessed from the context to mean, uti 
sonus testatur. Cum rerum natura nusquam 
magis quam in minimis tota sit* This is a 
very obscure expression of a plain senti- 
ment, " The wisdom and power of Nature, 
a or of Providence, is never more conspi- 
" cuous than in the smallest bodies." Ex 
his spernunt multa. The meaning of ex his 
is indefinite, and therefore obscure : we can 



CHAP. XIII. TRANSLATION. 359 

but conjecture that it means ex rebus kujus- 
modi ; and not ex his quce diximus ; for 
that sense is reserved for relata. 

From this specimen, we may judge of 
the difficulty of giving a just translation of 
Pliny's Natural History ; a work of which, 
from the vast store of valuable knowledge 
it contains, it is much to be regretted the 
learned author has greatly diminished the 
utility, by a studied obscurity and false re- 
finement of expression. 



z 4 



CHAP* XIV. TRANSLATION. 361 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Of Burlesque Translation, — Travesty and 
Parodij. — Scarr on's Virgile Travesti — An- 
other Species of Ludicrous Translation. 

In a preceding chapter, while treating of 
the translation of idiomatic phrases, we cen- 
sured the use of such idioms in the transla- 
tion as do not correspond with the age or 
country of the original. There is, however, 
one species of translation, in which that viola- 
tion of the costume is not only blameless, but 
seems essential to the nature of the compo- 
sition : I mean burlesque translation, or 
Travesty. This species of writing partakes, 
in a great degree, of original composition ; 
and is therefore not to be measured by the 
laws of serious translation. It conveys nei- 
ther a just picture of the sentiments, nor a 



362 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XIV. 

faithful representation of the style and man- 
ner of the original ; but pleases itself in 
exhibiting a ludicrous caricatura of both, 
It displays an overcharged and grotesque 
resemblance, and excites our risible emo- 
tions by the incongruous association of 
dignity and meanness, wisdom and absurdi- 
ty. This association forms equally the basis 
of Travesty and of Ludicrous Parody, from 
which it is no otherwise distinguished than 
by its assuming a different language from 
the original. In order that the mimickry 
may be understood, it is necessary that the 
writer choose, for the exercise of his talents, 
a work that is well known, and of great re- 
putation. Whether that reputation is de- 
served or unjust, the work may be equally 
the subject of burlesque imitation. If it has 
been the subject of general, but undeserved 
praise, a Parody or a Travesty is then a fair 
satire on the false taste of the original au- 
thor, and his admirers, and we are pleased 
to see both become the objects of a just cas- 
tigation. The Rehearsal, Torn Thumb, and 
Crononhotonthologos, which exhibit ludicrous 
parodies of passages from the favourite dra- 



CHAP. XIY. TRANSLATION. 363 

matic writers of the times, convey a great 
deal of just and useful criticism. If the ori- 
ginal is a work of real excellence, the Tra- 
vesty or Parody detracts nothing from its 
merit, nor robs the author of the smallest 
portion of his merited praise *. We laugh 
at the association of dignity and meanness ; 
but the former remains the exclusive pro- 
perty of the original, the latter belongs sole- 
ly to the copy. We give due praise to the 
mimical powers of the imitator, and are de- 
lighted to see how ingeniously he can eli- 
cit subject of mirth and ridicule from what 
is grave, dignified, pathetic, or sublime* 



* The occasional blemishes, however, of a good writer, are 
a fair subject of castigation ; and a travesty or burlesque pa- 
rody of them will please, from the justness of the satire : As 
the following ludicrous version of a passage in the 5th iEneid, 
which is among the few examples of false taste in the chastest 
of the Latin Poets : 



Oculos lelumque tetendit. 
He cock'd his eye and gun, 



364 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XIV* 



In the description of the games in the 
5th iEneid, Virgil every where supports the 
dignity of the Epic narration. His persons 
are heroes, their actions are suitable to that 
character, and we feel our passions serious- 
ly interested in the issue of the several con- 
tests. The same scenes travestied by Scar- 
ron are ludicrous in the extreme. His he- 
roes have the same names, they are engaged 
in the same actions, they have even a gro- 
tesque resemblance in character to their pro- 
totypes ; but they have all the meanness, 
rudeness, and vulgarity of ordinary prize- 
fighters, hackney coachmen, horse jockeys, 
and watermen. 



Medio Gyas in gurgite victor 



Rectorem navis compellat voce Mencetem ; 
Quo tantum mihi dexter abis ? hue dirige cursum, 
Littus ama, et Icevas stringat sine palmula cauUs „• 
Alium alii teneant. Dixit : sed cceca Mencetes 
Saxa timens, proram pelagi deiorquet ad undas. 
Quo diversus abis ? iterum pete saxa Meno3te } 
Cum clamore Gyas revocabat. — 



Gyas, qui croit que son pilote, 
Comme un vieil fou qu'il est, radote, 



CHAP. XIV. TRANSLATION. 365 

De ce qu'en mer il s'elargit, 

Aussi fort qu'un lion rugit ; 

Et s'ecrie, ecumant de rage, 

Serre, serre done le rivage, 

Fils de putain de Menetus, 

Serre, ou bien nous somme v ictus : 

Serre done, serre a la pareille : 

Menetus fit la sourde oreille, 

Et s'eloigne toujours du bord, 

Et si pourtant il n'a pas tort : 

Habile qu'il est,.,il redoute 

Certains rocs, ou Ton ne voit goutte— ■ 

Lors Gyas se met en furie, 

Et de rechef crie et recrie, 

Vieil coyon, pilote enrage, 

Mes ennemis t'ont ils gage 

Pour m'oter l'honneur de la sorte ? 

Serre, ou que le diable t'emporte, 

Serre le bord, ame de chien ; 

Mais au diable, s'il en fait rien. 

In Virgil, the prizes are suitable to the 
dignity of the persons who contend for 
them : 

Munera principio ante oculos, circoque Jocantur 
In medio: sacri tripodes, viridesque coronae, 
Et palmae, pretium victorious ; armaque, et ostro 
Perfusa? vestes, argenti aurique talentsu 



366 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XIV. 



In Scarron, the prizes are accommodated 
to the contending parties with equal pro- 
priety : 

Maitre Eneas faisant le sage, &c. 
Fit apporter une marmitte, 
C'etoit un des prix destines ; 
Deux pourpoints fort bien galonnes., 
Moitie filet et moitie soye ; 
Un sifflet contrefaisant Foye ; 
Un engin pour casser des noix ; 
Vingt et quatre assiettes de bois, 
Qu' Eneas allant au fourrage 
Avoit trouve dans le baggage 
Du venerable Agamemnon ; 
Certain auteur a dit que non, 
Comptant la chose d'autre sorte, 
Mais ici fort peu nous importe : 
Une toque de velous gras ; 
Un engin a prendre des rats, 
Ouvrage du grand Aristandre, 
Qui savoit bien les rats prendre 
En plus de cinquante facons, 
Et meme en donnoit des lecons : 
Deux tasses d'etain emaillees; 
Deux pantoufles despareillees, 
Dont Tune fut au grand Hector, 

Toutes deux de peau de castor 

Et plusieurs autres nippes rares, &c 



CHAP. XIV. TRANSLATION. 367 

But this species of composition pleases 
only in a short specimen. We cannot bear 
a lengthened work in Travesty. The in- 
congruous association of dignity and mean- 
ness excites risibility chiefly from its being 
unexpected. Even the best of these com- 
positions, Cotton's and Scarron's Virgil, 
entertain but for a few pages : the composi- 
tion soon becomes tedious, and at length 
disgusting. We laugh at a short exhibition 
of buffoonry ; but we cannot endure a man, 
who, with good talents, is constantly playing 
the fool. 

There is a species of ludicrous verse trans- 
lation which is not of the nature of Traves- 
ty, and which seems to be regulated by all 
the laws of serious translation. It is em- 
ployed upon a ludicrous original, and its 
purpose is not to burlesque, but to repre- 
sent it with the utmost fidelity. For that 
purpose, even the metrical stanza is closely 
imitated. The ludicrous effect is heighten- 
ed, when the stanza is peculiar in its struc- 
ture, and is transferred from a modern to an 



368 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. X 



ancient language ; as in Dr Aldrich's trans- 
lation of the well-known song, 



A soldier and a sailor, 

A tinker and a tailor, 

Once had a doubtful strife, Sir, 

To make a maid a wife, Sir, 

Whose name was buxom Joan, &e. 

Miles et navigator, 
Sartor et aerator, 
Jamdudum litigabant, 
De pulchra quam amabant, 

Nomen cut est Joanna, Sj-c. 

Of the same species of translation is the 
facetious composition entitled FMrii Btfrtife 
hce Itinerariurn, or Drunken Barnaby's Jour- 
nal: 



Faustule, die amico, 
Quo in loco, quo in vicOj 
Sive campo, sive tecto, 
Sine linteo, sine lecto ; 
Propinasti queis tahernis, 
An in terris, an Avernis. 



CHAP. XIV. TRANSLATION. 369 

Little Fausty, tell thy true heart, 
In what region, coast, or new part, 
Field or fold, thou hast been bousing, 
Without linen, bedding, housing ; 
In what tavern, pray thee, show us, 
Here on earth, or else below us. 

And the whimsical, though serious, transla- 
tion of Chevy-chace : 

Vivat Rex noster nobilis, 

Omnis in tuto sit; 
V enatu y olim jiebilis 

Chevino lucojit. 

God prosper long our noble King, 

Our lives and safeties all : 
A woful hunting once there did 

In Chevy-chace befal *, &c. 



* Of a similar character with the foregoing are some late 
specimens of burlesque Latin translation in rhyme, viz. Ram- 
say's Tale of The Monk and the Miller's Wife, the old ballad 
of The Wife of Auchtermuchty, &c. printed in Carmina rario* 
ra Macaronica, Edin. 1803. 



a a 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 371 



CHAPTER XV. 



The Genius of the Translator should be akin 
to that of the Original Author. — The best 
Translators have shone in Original Com-* 
position of the same Species with that 
which they have translated. — Of Voltaire s 
Translations from Shakespeare. — Of the 
Peculiar Character of the Wit of VoU 
taire. — His Translation from Hudibras. — 
Excellent Anonymous French Translation 
of Hudibras. — Translation of Rabelais by 
Urquhart and Motteux. 



r rom the consideration of those general 

rules of translation which in the foregoing 

chapters I have endeavoured to illustrate, it 

will appear no unnatural conclusion to as* 

Aa2 



372 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XV. 



sert, that he only is perfectly accomplished 
for the duty of a translator who possesses 
a genius akin to that of the original author. 
I do not mean to carry this proposition so 
far as to affirm, that in order to give a per- 
fect translation of the works of Cicero, a 
man must actually be as great an orator, or 
inherit the same extent of philosophical 
genius ; but he must have a mind capable 
of discerning the full merits of his original, 
of attending with an acute perception to the 
whole of his reasoning, and of entering with 
warmth and energy of feeling into all the 
beauties of his composition. Thus we shall 
observe invariably, that the best translators 
have beeo those writers who have compo- 
sed original works of the same species with 
those which they have translated. The mu- 
tilated version which yet remains to us of 
the Timaeus of Plato translated by Cicero, 
is a masterly composition, which, in the 
opinion of the best judges, rivals the merit 
of the original. A similar commendation 
cannot be bestowed on those fragments of 
the Phenomena of Aratus, translated into 
verse by the same author ; for Cicero's poe~ 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 3? 3 

tical talents were not remarkable ; but who 
can doubt, that had time spared to us his 
versions of the Orations of Demosthenes 
and jEschines, we should have found them 
possessed of the most transcendent merit ? 

We have observed, in the preceding part 
of this Essay, that poetical translation is 
less subjected to restraint than prose trans- 
lation, and allows more of the freedom of 
original composition. It will hence follow, 
that to exercise this freedom with propriety, 
a translator must have the talent of original 
composition in poetry ; and therefore, that 
in this species of translation, the possession 
of a genius akin to that of his author, is 
more essentially necessary than in any other* 
We know the remark of Denham, that the 
subtle spirit of poesy evaporates entirely 
in the transfusion from one language into 
another, and that unless a new, or an origi- 
nal spirit, is infused by the translator him- 
self, there will remain nothing but a ca- 
put mortuum. The best translators of 
poetry, therefore, have been those who have 
approved their talents in original poetical 

a a 3 



374 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XV. 



composition. Dry den, Pope, Addison, Rowe, 
Tickell, Pitt, Warton, Mason, and Murphy, 
rank equally high in the list of original 
poets, as in that of the translators of poetry. 



But as poetical composition is various 
in its kind, and the characters of the diffe- 
rent species of poetry are extremely dis- 
tinct, and often opposite in their nature, it 
is very evident, that the possession of ta- 
lents adequate to one species of translation, 
as to one species of original poetry, will not 
infer the capacity of excelling in other spe- 
cies, of which the character is different. 
Still further, it may be observed, that as 
there are certain species of poetical com- 
position, as, for example, the Dramatic, 
which, though of the same general character 
in all nations, will take a strong tincture of 
difference from the manners of a country, 
or the peculiar genius of a people ; so it 
will be found, that a poet, eminent as an 
original author in his own country may fail 
remarkably in attempting to convey, by a 
translation, an idea of the merits of a foreign 
work which is tinctured by the national ge- 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 375 

nius of the country which produced it. Of 
this we have a striking example in those 
translations from Shakespeare by Voltaire ; 
in which the French poet, eminent himself 
in dramatical composition, intended to con- 
vey to his countrymen a just idea of our 
most celebrated author in the same depart- 
ment. But Shakespeare and Voltaire, though 
perhaps akin to each other in some of the 
great features of the mind, were widely dis- 
tinguished, even by nature, in the charac- 
ters of their poetical genius ; and this na- 
tural distinction was still more sensibly en- 
creased by the general tone of manners, the 
hue and fashion of thought of their respec- 
tive countries. Voltaire, in his Essay sur la 
Tragedie Angloise, has chosen the famous 
soliloquy in the tragedy of Hamlet, " To he, 
M or not to be" as one of those striking* 

3 o 

passages which best exemplify the genius of 
Shakespeare, and which, in the words of the 
French author, demandent grace pour toutes 
sesf antes. It may therefore be presumed, 
that the translator in this instance endea- 
voured, as far as lay in his power, not only 
to adopt the spirit of his author, but to re- 

a a 4 



S76 



PRINCIPLES OF 



CHAP. XV. 



present him as favourably as possible to his 
countrymen. Yet how wonderfully has he 
metamorphosed, how miserably disfigured 
him ! In the original, we have the perfect 
picture of a mind strongly agitated, giving 
vent to its feelings in broken starts of ut- 
terance, and in language which plainly indi- 
cates, that the speaker is reasoning solely 
with his own mind, and not with any audi- 
tor. In the translation, we have a formal 
and connected harangue, in which it would 
appear, that the author, offended with the 
abrupt manner of the original, and judging 
those irregular starts of expression to be un- 
suitable to that precision which is required 
in abstract reasoning, has corrected, as he 
thought, those defects of the original, and 
given union, strength, and precision, to this 
philosophical argument. 



Demeure, il faut choisir, et passer a l'instant 

De la vie a la mort, ou de l'etre au neant. 

Dieux justesj s'il en est, eclairez mon courage. 

Faut-il vieillir courbe sous la main qui m'outrage,. 

Supporter, ou iinir mon malheur et mon sort ! 

Que suis-je ? qui m'arrete ? et qu' est ce que la mort T 



GHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 377 

C'est la fin de nos maux, c'est mon unique azile ; 

Apres de longs transports, c'est un sommeil tranquile. 

On s'endort et tout meurt i mais un affreux reveil, 

Doit succeder peutetre aUx douceurs du sommeil. 

On nous menace ; on dit que cette courte vie 

De tourmens eternels est aussitot suivie. 

O mort ! moment fatale ! affreuse eternite ! 

Tout cceur a ton seul nom se glace epouvante. 

Eh ! qui pourrait sans toi supporter cette vie ? 

De nos pretres menteurs benir l'hypocrisie ? 

D'une indigne maitresse encenser les erreurs ? 

Ramper sous un ministre, adorer ses hauteurs? 

Et montrer les langueurs de son ame abattue, 

A des amis ingrats qui detournent la viie ? 

La mort serait trop douce en ces extremites. 

Mais.le scrupule parle, et nous crie, arreted. 

II defend a nos mains cet heureux homicide, 

Et d'un heros guerrier, fait un Chretien timide *. 



* To be, or not to be, that is the question : 
Whether 'tis better in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ; 
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
And by opposing end them ? To die ; — to sleep ; 
No more ? — And by a sleep, to say we end 
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to ; — 'tis a consummation 



8*78 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

Besides, the general fault already noticed, 
of substituting formal and connected rea- 
soning, to the desultory range of thought 
and abrupt transitions of the original, Vol- 



Devoutly to be wish'd. To die ;— to sleep ;— 
To sleep ! perchance to dream ; — ay, there's the rub ; 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause : There's the respect> 
That makes calamity of so long life : 
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely^ 
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
The insolence of office, and the spurns 
That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 
When he himself might his quietus make 
With a bare bodkin ? who would fardels bear^ 
To groan and sweat under a weary life ; 
But that the dread of something after death — 
That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne 
No traveller returns — puzzles the will ; 
And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 
Than fly to others that we know not of? 
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, &c. 

Hamlet, act 3. sc. £ 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 379 

taire has in this passage, by the looseness of 
his paraphrase, allowed some of the most 
striking beauties, both of the thought and 
expression, entirely to escape ; while he has 
superadded, with unpardonable licence, se- 
veral ideas of his own, not only unconnect- 
ed with the original, but dissonant to the 
general tenor of the speaker's thoughts, and 
foreign to his character. Adopting Vol- 
taire's own style of criticism on the transla- 
tions of the Abbe des Fontaines, we may 
ask him, " Where do we find, in this trans- 
" lation of Hamlet's soliloquy, 

" The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune — 

" To take arms against a sea of troubles 

" The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 

u That flesh is heir to 

— " Perchance to dream ; ay there's the rub 

te The whips and scorns of time 

" The law's delay, the insolence of office 

" The spurns — that patient merit from th' unworthy 

" takes 

" That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne. 
" No traveller returns" ? 

Can Voltaire, who has omitted in this 



380 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

short passage all the above striking peculia- 
rities of thought and expression, be said 
to have given a translation from Shake- 
speare ? 

But in return for what he has retrenched 
from his author, he has made a liberal addi- 
tion of several new and original ideas of his 
own. Hamlet, whose character in Shake- 
speare exhibits the strongest impressions of 
religion, who feels these impressions even 
to a degree of superstition, which influen- 
ces his conduct in the most important exi- 
gences, and renders him weak and irre- 
solute, appears in Mr Voltaire's transla- 
tion a thorough sceptic and freethinker. 
In the course of a few lines, he expresses 
his doubt of the existence of a God ; he 
treats the priests as liars and hypocrites, and 
the Christian religion as a system which 
debases human nature, and makes a coward 
of a hero : 

Dieux justes ! S'il en est — *-* 

"De nos pretres menteurs benir Fhypocrisie 

Et d'un heros guerrier, fait un Chretien timide— 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 381 

Now, who gave Mr Voltaire a right thus 
to transmute the pious and superstitious 
Hamlet into modern philosophe and Esprit 
fort f Whether the French author meant 
by this transmutation to convey to his coun- 
trymen a favourable idea of our English 
bard, we cannot pretend to say ; but we 
may at least affirm, that he has not convey- 
a just one *. 

But what has prevented the translator, 
who professes that he wished to give a just 



* Other ideas superadded by the translator are ; 

Que suis-je Qui m' arrete ? 

On nous menace,, on dit que cette courte vie, &c. 

Affreuse eternite ! 

Tout coeur a ton seul nom se glace epouvante 

A des amis ingrats qui detournent la vue. 



In the Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare, 
which is one of the best pieces of criticism in the English 
language, the reader will find many examples of similar mis- 
representation and wilful debasements of our great dramatic 
poet, in the pretended translations of Voltaire. 



382 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

idea of the merits of his original, from ac- 
complishing what he wished? Not igno- 
rance of the language ; for Voltaire, though 
no great critic in the English tongue, had 
yet a competent knowledge of it ; and the 
change he has put upon the reader was not 
involuntary, or the effect of ignorance. Nei- 
ther was it the want of genius, or of poeti- 
cal talents ; for Voltaire is certainly one of 
the best poets, and one of the greatest mas- 
ters of the drama. But it was the original 
difference of his genius and that of Shake- 
speare, increased by the general opposition 
of the national character of the French and 
English. His mind, accustomed to connect 
all ideas of dramatic sublimity or beauty with 
regular design and perfect symmetry of com- 
position, could not comprehend this union 
of the great and beautiful with irregularity 
of structure and partial disproportion. He 
was capable indeed of discerning some fea- 
tures of majesty in this colossal statue ; but 
the rudeness of the parts and the want of 
polish in the whole figure, prevailed over 
the general impression of its grandeur, and 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 383 

presented it altogether to his eye as a mon- 
strous production. 

The genius of Voltaire was more akin to 
that of Dryden, of Waller, of Addison, and 
of Pope, than to that of Shakespeare : he has, 
therefore, succeeded much better in the trans- 
lations he has given of particular passages 
from these poets, than in those he has at- 
tempted from our great master of the 
drama. 

Voltaire possessed a large share of wit ; 
but it is of a species peculiar to himself, 
and which, I think, has never yet been ana- 
lised. It appears to me to be the result of 
acute philosophical talents, a strong spirit of 
satire, and a most brilliant imagination. As 
all wit consists in unexpected combinations, 
the singular union of a philosophic thought 
with a lively fancy, which is a very uncom- 
mon association, seems in general to be the 
basis of the wit of Voltaire. It is of a very 
different species from that wit which is as- 
sociated with humour, which is exercised in 
presenting odd, extravagant, but natural 



384 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

views of human character, and which forms 
the essence of ludicrous composition. The 
novels of Voltaire have no other scope than 
to illustrate certain philosophical doctrines, 
or to expose certain philosophical errors ; 
they are not pictures of life or of manners ; 
and the persons who figure in them are pure 
creatures of the imagination, fictitious be- 
ings, who have nothing of nature in their 
composition, and who neither act nor rea- 
son like the ordinary race of men. Vol- 
taire then, with a great deal of wit, seems 
to have had no talent for humorous com- 
position. Now, if such is the character of 
his original genius, we may presume, that 
he was not capable of justly estimating in 
the compositions of others what he did not 
possess himself. We may likewise fairly 
conclude, that he should fail in attempting 
to convey by a translation a just idea of the 
merits of a work, of which one of the main 
ingredients is that quality in which he was 
himself deficient. Of this I proceed to give 
give a strong example. 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 385 

In the poem of Hudibras\ we have a re- 
markable combination of Wit with Hu- 
mour ; nor is it easy to say which of these 
qualities chiefly predominates in the com- 
position. A proof that humour forms a 
most capital ingredient is, that the inimi- 
table Hogarth has told the whole story of 
the poem in a series of characteristic prints : 
now painting is completely adequate to the 
representation of humour, but can convey 
no idea of wit. Of this singular poem, 
Voltaire has attempted to give a specimen 
to his countrymen by a translation ; but in 
this experiment he says he has found it ne^- 
cessary to concentrate the first four hundred 
lines into little more than eighty of the 
translation *. The truth is, that, either in- 
sensible of that part of the merit of the ori- 



* <f Pour faire connoitre Fesprit de ce poeme, unique en son 
genre, il faut retrancher les trois quarts de tout passage qu'on 
veut traduire ; car ce fuller ne finit jamais. J'ai done re- 
duit a environ quatre-vingt vers les quatre cent premiers vers 
•d'HudibraSj pour eviter la prolixite." Mel, Pkilos. par VoU 
taire, Oeitv. torn. 15. Ed. de Geneve, 4>to. 

Bb 



386 FBINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

ginal, or conscious of his own inability to 
give a just idea of it, he has left out all that 
constitutes the humour of the painting, and 
attached himself solely to the wit of the com- 
position. In the original, we have a descrip- 
tion of the figure, dress, and accoutrements 
of Sir Hudibras, which is highly humorous, 
and which conveys to the imagination a$ 
complete a picture as is given by the cha- 
racteristic etchings of Hogarth. In the 
translation of Voltaire, all that we learn of 
those particulars which paint the hero, is, 
that he wore mustachios, and rode with a 
pair of pistols. 

Even the wit of the original, in passing 
through the alembic of Voltaire, has chanr 
2ed in a great measure its nature, and assi- 
milated itself to that which is peculiar to 
the translator. The wit of Butler is more 
concentrated, more pointed, and is announ- 
ced in fewer words, than the wit of Voltaire. 
The translator, therefore, though he pre- 
tends to have abridged four hundred verses 
into eighty, has in truth effected this by the 
retrenchment of the wit of his original, and 



CHAP. XV, TRANSLATION. 387 

not by the concentration of it : for when we 
compare any particular passage or point, we 
jfind there is more diffusion in the transla- 
tion than in the original. Thus, Butler 
says, 

The difference was so small, his brain 
Outweigh'd his rage but half a grain ; 
Which made some take him for a tool 
That knaves do work with, call'd a fool. 

Thus amplified by Voltaire, and at the same 
time imperfectly translated : 

Mais malgre sa grande eloquence, 
Et son merite, et sa prudence, 
II passa chez quelques savans 
Pour etre un de ces instrumens 
Dont les fripons avec addresse 
Savent user sans dire mot, 
Et qu ils tournent avec souplesse ; 
Cet instrument s'appelle un sot. 

Thus likewise the famous simile of Talia- 
cotius, loses by the amplification of the trans- 
lator, a great portion of its spirit : 

Bb2 



388 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV, 

So learned Taliacotius from 
The brawny part of porter's bum 
Cut supplemental noses, which 
Would last as long as parent breed) ; 
But, when the date of nock was out. 
Off dropt the sympathetic snout. 

Ainsi Taliacotius, 

Grand Esculape d'Etruriej, 

Repara tous les nez perdus 

Par une nouvelle industrie : 

II vous prenoit adroitement 

Un morceau du cul d'un pauvre homme^ 

L'appliquoit au nez proprement ; 

Enfin il arrivat qu'en somme, 

Tout juste a la mort du preteur 

Tombait le nez de remprunteur ; 

Et souvent dans la meme biere, 

Par justice et par bon accord, 

On remettait au gre du mort 

Le nez aupres de son derriere. 

It will be allowed, that notwithstanding 
the supplemental witticism of the translator, 
contained in the last four lines, the simile 
loses, upon the whole, very greatly by its 
diffusion. The following anonymous Latin 
versions of this simile are possessed of mucfy 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 389 

higher merit, as, with equal brevity of ex- 
pression, they convey a great deal of the 
spirit of the original : 

Sic adscititios nasos de dune torosi 
Vectoris doctd secuit Talicotius arte.. 
Qui potuere parent durando ozquare parentem : 
At postquam fato clunis computruit, ipsum 
Una. sympathicum coepit tabescere rostrum. 

The next has the additional merit of imi- 
tating the measure of the original : 

Sic Talivoti ars arnica 

Vectoris parte de postica 3 - 

Falsis invenit carnem nasis, 

Qua* duret tamdiu qucim basis ; 

Sed rostrum parili ruind 

Cum dune periit consobrind. 

Dodslev's Museum, vol. ii. 

With these translations may be compa- 
red the following, which is taken from a 
complete version of the Poem of Hudibras, 
a very remarkable work, with the merits of 
which (as the book is less known than it de- 

Bb3 



390 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

serves to be), I am glad to have this oppor- 
tunity of making the English reader ac- 
quainted : 

Ainsi Talicot (Time fesse 

Savoit tailler avec addresse 

Nez tous neufs, qui ne risquoient rien 

Tant que le cul se portoit bien ; 

Mais si le cul perdoit la vie, 

Le nez tomboit par sympathie. 

In one circumstance of this passage no 
translation can come up to the original : it 
is in that additional pleasantry which results 
from the structure of the verses, the first 
line ending most unexpectedly with a pre- 
position, and the third with a pronoun, both 
which are the rhyming syllables in the two 
couplets : 

So learned Taliacotius from, &c. 
Cut supplemental noses, which, &c. 

It was perhaps impossible to imitate this in 
a translation ; but setting this circumstance 
aside, the merit of the latter French version 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 391 

seems to me to approach very near to that 
of the original. 

The author of this translation of the Poem 
of Hudibras, evidently a man of superior abi- 
lities *, appears to have been endowed with 
an uncommon share of modesty . He presents 
his work to the public with the utmost dif- 
fidence ; and in a short preface, humbly de- 
precates its censure for the presumption that 
may be imputed to him, in attempting that 
which the celebrated Voltaire had declared 
to be one of the most difficult of tasks. Yet 
this task he has executed in a very masterly 
manner. A few specimens will shew the 
high merit of this work, and clearly evince, 
that the translator possessed that essential 



* I have lately learnt, that the author of this translation 
was Colonel Townley* an English gentleman who had been 
educated in France, and long in the French service, and who 
thus had acquired a most intimate knowledge of both lan- 
guages : — The same person (Francis Townley) who suffered 
death at Carlisle, for his concern in the Rebellion 1745-6; 
and who pleaded in vain his commission from the French 
King, as entitling him to the benefit of the cartel settled with 
France for the exchange of prisoners of war. 

sb 4 



392 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

requisite for his undertaking, a kindred ge- 
nius with that of his great original. 

The religion of Hudibras is thus descri- 
bed: 

For his religion, it was fit 

To match his learning and his wit ? 

'Twas Presbyterian true blue ; 

For he was of that stubborn crew 

Of errant saints, whom all men grant 

To be the true church-militant : 

Such as do build their faith upon 

The holy text of pike and gun ; 

Decide all controversies by 

Infallible artillery ; 

And prove their doctrine orthodox, 

By apostolic blows and knocks. CaiUo I* 

Sa religion au genie 
Et scavoir etoit assortie ; 
II etoit franc Presbyterien, 
Et de sa secte le soutien, 
Secte, qui justement se vante 
D' etre TEglise militante ; 
Qui de sa foi vous rend raison 
Par la bouche de son canon., 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION 3§3> 

Dont le boulet et feu terrible 
Montre bien qu'elle est infallible, 
i£t sa doctrine prouve a tous 
Orthodoxe, a force de coups. 

In the following passage, the arch ratio- 
cination of the original is happily rivalled 
in the translation : 

For Hudibras wore but one spur, 
As wisely knowing could he stir 
To active trot one side of's horse, 
The other would not hang an a — se» 

Car Hudibras avec raison 
Ne se ehaussoit qu'un eperon/ 
Ayant preuve demonstrative 
Qu'un cote marchant, l'autre arrive. 

The language of Sir Hudibras is described 
as a strange jargon, compounded of English, 
Greek and Latin, 

Which made some think when he did gabble 
They'd heard three labourers of Babel * 
Or Cerberus himself pronounce 
A leash of languages at once. 



394 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

It was difficult to do justice in the trans- 
lation to the metaphor of Cerberus, by 
translating leash of languages : This, how- 
ever, is very happily effected by a parallel 
witticism : 

Ce qui pouvoit bien faire accroire 
Quand il parloit a l'auditoire, 
D'entendre encore le bruit mbrtel 
De trois ouvriers de Babel, 
Ou Cerbere aux ames errantes 
Japper trois langues differentes. 

The wit of the following passage is com* 
pletely transfused, perhaps even heightened 
in the translation : 



For he by geometric scale 
Could take the size of pots of ale ; 
Resolve by sines and tangents straight 
If bread or butter wanted weight : 
And wisely tell what hour o'th' day 
The clock doth strike, by algebra* 



En geometre raffine 

Un pot de bierre il eut jauge j 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 395 

Par tangente et sinus sur l'heure 
Trouve le poids de pain ou beurre ; 
Et par algebre eut dit aussi 
A quelle heure il sonne midi. 



The last specimen I shall give from this 
work, is Hudibras's consultation with the 
lawyer, in which the Knight proposes to pro- 
secute Sidrophel in an action of battery : 



Quoth he, there is one Sidrophel 

Whom I have cudgell'd — " Very well." 

And now he brags t'have beaten me.— 

c< Better and better still," quoth he.-— 

And vows to stick me to the wall 

Where'er he meets me — " Best of all." 

'Tis true, the knave has taken's oath 

That I robb'd him—" Well done, in troth/'— 

When h'has confessed he stole my cloak, 

And pick'd my fob, and what he took, 

Which was the cause that made me bang him 

And take my goods again—" Marry, hang him.' A 

" Sir," quoth the lawyer, " not to flatter ye, 

{e You have as good and fair a battery 
ie As heart can wish, and need not shame 
** The proudest man alive to claim "i 



896 



PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 



" For if they've us'd you as you say ; 
tc Marry, quoth I, God give you joy : 
(C I would it were my case, I'd give 
(< More than I'll say, or you believe." 

II est, dit-il, de par le monde 

Un Sidrophel, que Dieu confonde, 

Que j'ai rosse des mieux.— -' ' Fort bien"— 

Et maintenant il dit, le chien, 

Qu'il m'a battu — " Bien mieux encore/' 

Et jure, afin qu'on ne l'ignore, 

Que s'il me trouve il me tuera — 

" Le meilleur de tout le voila"— s 

II est vrai que ce miserable 

A fait serment au prealable 

Que moi je l'ai devalise — ■ 

ee C'est fort bien fait, en verite"— 

Tandis que lui-meme il confesse, 

Qu'il m'a vole dans une presse, 

Mon manteau, mon gousset vuide ; 

Et c'est pourquoi je l'ai rosse : 

Puis mes effets j'ai scu reprendre."— 

ec Oui da," dit-il, " il faut le pendre." 

Dit l'avocat, " Sans flatterie 

(< Vous avez, Monsieur, batterie 
" Aussi bonne qu'on puisse avoir ; 
€( Vous devez vous en prevaloir. 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 397 

f c S'ils vous ont traite de la sorte, 
ff Comme votre recit le porte, 
if Je vous en fais mon compliment ; 
ff Je voudrois pour bien de l'argent, 
' f Et plus que vous ne sauriez croire, 
" Qu'il m'arrivat pareille histoire." 

These specimens are sufficient to shew 
how completely this translator has entered 
into the spirit of his original, and has thus 
succeeded in conveying a very perfect idea 
to his countrymen of one of those works 
which are most strongly tinctured with the 
peculiarities of national character, and which 
therefore required a singular coincidence 
of the talents of the translator with those 
of the original author. 

If the English can boast of any paral- 
lel to this, in a version from the French, 
where the translator has given equal proof 
of a kindred genius to that of his ori- 
ginal, and has as successfully accomplish- 
ed a task of equal difficulty, it is in the 
translation of Rabelais, begun by Sir Tho- 
mas Urquhart, and finished by Mr Motteux, 



398 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

and lastly, revised and corrected by Mr 
Ozell. The difficulty of translating this 
work, arises less from its obsolete style, than 
from a phraseology peculiar to the author, 
which he seems to have purposely rendered 
obscure, in order to conceal that satire which 
he levels both against the civil government 
and the ecclesiastical policy of his country. 
Such is the studied obscurity of this satire, 
that but a very few of the most learned and 
acute among his own countrymen have pro- 
fessed to understand Rabelais in the origi- 
nal. The history of the English transla- 
tion of this work, is in itself a proof of its 
very high merit. The three first books were 
translated by Sir Thomas Urquhart, but 
only two of them were published in his 
lifetime. Mr Motteux, a Frenchman by 
birth, but whose long residence in England 
had given him an equal command of both 
languages, republished the work of Ur- 
quhart, and added the remaining three books 
translated by himself; with a variety of cu- 
rious notes. In this publication he allows 
the excellence of the work of his predeces- 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 399 

sor, whom he declares to have been a com- 
plete master of the French language, and 
to have possessed both learning and fancy 
equal to the task he undertook. He adds, 
that he has preserved in his translation u the 
" very style and air of his original ;" and 
finally, " that the English readers may now 
" understand that author better in their 
" own tongue, than many of the French 
a can do in theirs." The work thus com- 
pleted in English, was taken up by Mr 
Ozell, a person of considerable literary abi- 
lities, and who possessed an uncommon 
knowledge both of the ancient and modern 
languages. Of the merits of the transla- 
tion, none could be a better judge, and to 
these he has given the strongest testimony, by 
adopting it entirely in his new edition, and li- 
miting his own undertaking solely to the Cor- 
rection of the text of Urquhart and Motteux, 
with additional notes of his own ; to which 
he has added a translation of the notes of M. 
Du Chat, who spent, as Mr Ozell informs us, 
forty years in composing annotations on the 
original work. The English version of Ra- 



400 PRINCIPLES OF CHAP. XV. 

belais thus improved, may be considered, 
in its present form, as one of the most per- 
fect specimens of the art of translation. The 
best critics in both languages have borne 
testimony to its faithful transfusion of the 
sense, and happy imitation of the style of 
the original * ; and every English reader 
will acknowledge, that it possesses all the 
ease of original composition. If I have 
forborne to illustrate any of the rules or 



* M. Du Chat's own testimony to the merits of this ex- 
cellent English version of Rabelais, must render superfluous 
every other : et Mes remarques sont, ou historiques, ou cri- 
? tiques, et purement de grammaire, suivant le sujet au- 
st quel je me suis borne. Ceux qui vouchont en voir d'une 
cc autre nature, sur le meme auteur, lisont avec plaisir la 
iC grande preface et les nptes Angloises du Rabelais Apglois 
¥ imprime depus xvi. ans a Londres, et re-imprimes nou- 
<e vellement. Si personne n'a encore entrepris de traduire 
¥ en Francois ces notes et cette preface, c'est apparemment 
cl qu'on est bien persuade, qu'il n'y a que Fauteur qui puisse 
€t s'en bien acquitter. Soit lui, ou un autre qui execute la 
ff chose, il n'y aura point de libraire qui ne trouve son compte 
$ a imprimer un tel livre." 

Preface de M. Du Chat^ 



CHAP. XV. TRANSLATION. 401 

or precepts of the preceding Essay from this 
work, my reasons were, that obscurity I 
have already noticed, which rendered it less 
fit for the purpose of such illustration, and 
that strong tincture of licentiousness which 
characterises the whole work. 



THE END. 



c c 



APPENDIX. 



cc2 



APPENDIX. 



NO. I. 

STANZAS from TICKELL's Ballad of Colin and Lucy. 

Translated by Le Mierre. 

Cheres compagnes, je vous laisse ; 

Une voix semble m'apeller, 
Une main que je vois sans cesse 
Me fait signe de m'en aller. 

L'ingrat que j'avois cru sincere 

Me fait mourir, si jeune encor : 
Une plus riche a seu lui plaire : 

Moi qui Taimois, voila mon sort ! 

Ah Colin ! ah ! que vas-tu faire ? 

Rends-moi mon bien, rends-moi ta foi ; 

cc3 



406 APPENDIX. 

Et toi que son coeur me prefere 
De ses baisers detourne-toi. 

Des le matin en epousee 
A l'eglise il te conduira ; 

Mais homme faux, fille abusee, 
Songez que Lucy sera la. 

Filles, portez-moi vers ma fosse ; 

Que Fingrat me rencontre alors, 
Luij dans son bel habit de noce, 

Et Lucy sous le drap des morts. 

7 hear a voice you cannot hear, 
Which says I must not stay, 

I see a hand you cannot see, 
Which beckons me away. 

By a false heart, and broken vows, 

In early youth I die ; 
Am I to blame, because his bride 

Is thrice as rich as I? 

Ah Colin, give not her thy vows, 

Vows due to me alone ; 
Nor thou, fond maid, receive his kiss f 

Nor think him all thy own. 



APPENDIX. 40*7 



To-morrow in the church to wed, 

Impatiefit both prepare, 
But know, fond maid, and know, false man, 

That Lucy will be there. 

There bear my corse, ye comrades, bear t 
The bridegroom blithe to meet | 

He in his wedding-trim so gay 9 
I in my winding-sheet. 



cc4 



408 



APPENDIX, 



No. II. 

ODE V. of the First Book of Horace, 
Translated by Milton, 
Quis multa gracilis, fyc* 

W hat slender youth, bedew'd with liquid odours, 
Courts thee on roses in some pleasant cave ? 

Pyrrha, for whom bind'st thou 

In wreaths thy golden hair,, 

Plain in thy neatness ? O how oft shall he 
On faith and changed Gods complain, and seas 

Rough with black winds, and storms 

Unwonted shall admire. 

Who now enjoys thee credulous, all gold, 
Who always vacant, always amiable, 

Hopes thee ; of flattering gales 

Unmindful ? Hapless they 

To whom thou untry'd seem'st fair. Me in my 3 vow'd 
Picture the sacrtd wall declares t' have hung 

My dank and dropping weeds 

To the stern God of sea. 



APPENDIX. 409 

NO. III. 

The beginning of the VHIth Book of the Iliad, 

Translated by T. Hobbes. 

1 he morning now was quite display' d, and Jove 

Upon Olympus* highest top was set ; 
And all the Gods and Goddesses above, 

By his command, were there together met. 
And Jupiter unto them speaking, said, 

You Gods all, and you Goddesses, d'ye hear I 
Let none of you the Greeks or Trojans aid : 

I cannot do my work for you : forbear I 
For whomsoever I assisting see 

The Argives or the Trojans, be it known.- 
He wounded shall return, and laught at be, 

Or headlong into Tartarus be thrown ; 
Into the deepest pit of Tartarus, 

Shut in with gates of brass, as much below 
The common hell, as 'tis from hell to us. 

But if you will my power by trial know, 
Put now into 'my hand a chain of gold, 

And let one end thereof lie on the plain. 
And all you Gods and Goddesses take hold, 

You shall not move me, howsoe'er you strain, 



410 APPENDIX. 

At th' other end, if I my strength put to % 
I'll pull you Gods and Goddesses to me, 

Do what you can, and earth and sea to boot, 
And let you hang there till my power you see. 

The Gods were out of countenance at this, 

And to such mighty words durst not reply, &c. 



APPENDIX. 411 

NO. IV. 

Ex Fabulis JEsopiis Fr. Jos. Desbilloxs. 

Philomela, Corvus, et Bubo. 

JNatura vernis pinxerat coloribus 
Foetus repullulantes ; formosissimi 
Ridebat anni blanda tempestas : dies 
Festivitati candidse simillimus 
Abierat, et paraverat amicae locum 
Tranquillitati ; solis aurei calor 
Extulerat ab agris molliter tepentibus 
Subtil em odorum copiam, quam paullulum 
Noctis serenae frigus addensaverat, 
Et in parentis regna telluris sinens 
Recidere, florum, floridarumque arborum 
Diurnum odorem odore vincebat novo. 

Philomela tales avida delicias capit, 
Penit usque condit eruditis sensibus. 
Sed efficaci mox scientiae obsequens, 
Inflat canorum guttur, et ad omnes modos 
Intendit; acrem nunc et argutam vibrat 
Animosa vocem, more clangentis tuba? : 
Nunc languida premit, frangit obscurat sonos ; 
Et deficere videtur, et medullitus 
Amore flagrans intimo liquescere. 



112 APPENDIX. 

Favonius, quern lilia inter et rosas 
Dulci tenebat inertia vinctum sopor, 
Evigilat ; hasque mirans tarn volubiles, 
Tarn delicati flexioncs gutturis, 
Ne cesset ilia metuit. Evigilat quoque 
Corvus ; at inepto tardus ingenio, et sibi 
Quod somnus abrumpatur aegre etiam ferens ; 
Quae te mala, in quit, cuncta ubique dum silent, 
Libido cogit, tarn moleste ut perstrepas ? 
Tibi videris bella cantrix : at tuse 
Mihi cantilenae, moneo, valde displicent; 
Illisque jam nunc abstinere ni velis, 
Ex me feres grande aliquod infortunium, 

Philomela, atroces verita minas, obmutuit ; 
Multoque mane cum vix dilucesceret, 
Periculosam praepotentis alitis 
Viciniam relinquit, et se contulit 
Celeriter in remotam solitudinem. 
Ibi sese doctis artibus operam dare 
Impune tandem posse credit : et leves 
Per summa gramina Zephyrorum spiritus 
Cum dulce fremerent, sibilumque ramulis 
Mobilibus arbor musicum omnis redderet, 
Et Phoebus etiam Candida purus face 
Innubilas per auras lucem spargeret ; 
His ilia paret incitamentis : canit; 



APPENDIX. 418 

Simulque varias celebrat agrestis loci 
Amcenitates, et voluptatem suam. 

Sed in cavato proximae trunco arboris, 
Somno sepultus, qui latebat, horridus 
Bubo excitatur ; quamvis et lucem oderit, 
Paullum progress us, voce ferali increpat : 
Et, inficetos ni statim cantus, ait, 
Finieris, istam vocem importunissimam 
Ultor ego, vitamque simul eripiam tibi. 
Hie denique suum misera avis studium abjicit ; 
Timensque corvos nocte, bubones die, 
Silet, dolorve si urgeat, tantum gemit. 

Fabella scripta est in homines quosdam feros, 
Musa quibus omnis suavior bilem movet. 



414 APPENDIX. 

NO. V. 
EX FABUL1S ^SOPIIS, Fr.Jos. Desbillons. 

Belluce Pestilentia laborantes. 

Calamitas, qua non alia diligentior 
Vastandum ad orbem ab inferis emittitur, 
Terribilis, invicta, efficax, intra dies 
Paucos, avaram explere Plutonis domum, 
Pestis, vocanda nomine quoniam est suo, 
In belluarum eruperat late genus. 
Permulta fuerant corpora data jam neci : 
Reliqua laboriosus urgebat stupor, 
Tristi veterno languida : procul, hinc procul 
Exterritus amor, et voluptas fugerant : 
Ubique luctus, ubique regnabat pavor. 

Ea tarn atroci cladi perculsus Leo 
Jubet frequentes convocari belluas : 
Turn concionem ubi satis magnam videt : 
Ccelestis ira, unius ob noxas, ait, 
Saepe universam plectit multitudinem : 
Nunc ergo judex quisque, non mollis sibi, 
Pescendat in se, dispiciatque sedulo 






APPENDIX. 415 

Siquid erit quo fors irritaverit Deos ; 
Ut una demum, rite sese devovens, 
Hostia, tot innocentes redimat victimas. 
Ego equidem culpa non carere me puto : 
Nam oves et agnos, et juvencos et boves 
Comedi ; nee peperci ipsis custodibus : 
Et haec et alia ejusmodi quam plurima 
Patrata. fateor, jure nullo sunt meo. 

Hie vulpis, ut quae sponte adulari solet, 
Vitam reclamat omnem tanti principis 
Culpae inveniri posse nulli obnoxiam: 
Ovillis, in quit, bubulisque carnibus 
Saepe satiasti nobilem tuam famem : 
Quid turn ? pecudibus magnus hie stultis honos 
Est habitus, alvum quod tuam repleverint. 
Aliquot praeterea rusticos discerpere 
Placuit : at hostes in modum hostilem licet 
Tractare, nee jus bellicum ulcisci vetat. 
Quag visa postquam est plausibilis oratio ; 
Sua confiteri scelera non dubitat tigris, 
Non dubitat ursus, non lupus, non caeteri 
Carnifices j et qui nigra norint vertere 
In Candida, adsunt oratores callidi. 

Restabat asinus : is suum bona fide 
Scrutatur animum ; et invenire vix potest 
Quidquam, notari dignum ; ad extremum tamen : 



416 



APPENDIX 



Mihi, quasi per nebulam, ait, in mentem venit, 
Olim me divertisse, nescio qua via, 
Ad sacrificuli nescio cujus pratulum : 
Herba bona, tenera, si bene memini, fuit ; 
Attingere autem non licebat hanc mihi, 
Noram : abstinere volui : sed stimulans fames, 
Et allicientis opportunitas boni, 
Et genius aliquis me malus, credo, impulit, 
Labella dulci ut admoverem gramini, 
Pauxillulumque pabuli decerperem. 

Vix ea : repente in infelicem bestiam 
Ab universo ccetu clamor tollitur : 
Pereat scelestus, causa communis mali, 
Asinus : nefandi pereat auctor criminis. 
Sacrificuli herbam comedere ! quid hoc est, nisi 
Horribile, junctum cum sacrilegio scelus ! 
Hinc nos videlicet hisce cladibus premit 
Ccelestis ira : Numen ergo debita 
Statim expietur impiae pecudis nece. 
Diram hanc iniquus ipse Rex sententiam 
Non erubescit comprobare : nee mora, 
Fcede immolandam tradit hostiam lupo. 



Pessundari inopes, ubi potentium interest, 
jFacile in grave scelus culpa mutatur levis. 



APPENDIX, 417 



NO. VI. 

A learned and ingenious friend *, to whom I am indebted 
for some very just remarks, of which I have availed myself 
in the preceding Essay, has furnished me with the following 
acute, and, as I think, satisfactory explanation of a passage in 
Tacitus, extremely obscure in itself, and concerning the 
meaning of which the commentators are not agreed. 

Tacitus meaning to say, " That Domitian, wishing to be 
C( the great, and indeed the only object in the empire, and 
" that nobody should appear with any sort of lustre in it but 
tc himself, was exceedingly jealous of the great reputation 
* which Agricola had acquired by his skill in war," expres- 
ses himself thus : 

In Vit. Agr. cap. 39> 

Id sibi maxime formidolosum, privati kominis nomen supra 
principis attolli. Frustra studiafori, et civilium artium decus 
in silentium acta, si militarem gloriam alius occuparet : et 
ccEtera utcunque facilius dissimulari, ducis boni imperatoriam 
virtutem esse. Which Gordon translates thus : " Terrible 
" above all things it was to him, that the name of a private 
tc man should be exalted above that of the Prince. In vain 



* James Edgar, Esq; Commissioner of the Customs, Edinburgh, 

Dd 



I 



418 



APPENDIX. 



" had he driven from the public tribunals all pursuits of popular 
<e eloquence and fame, in vain repressed the renown of every 
•* civil - Accomplishment, if any other than himself possessed 
" the gioiv of excelling in war: Nay, however he might 
" dissemble every other distaste, yet to the person of Empe- 
ct ror p. operly appertained the virtue and praise of being a 
* great general." 

c This translation is very good, as far as the words " civil 
<e accomplishment/ but what follows is not, in my opinion, 
the meaning of Tacitus's words, which I would translate thus: 

— ' ' If any other than himself should become a great object 
" in the empire, as that man must necessarily be who pos- 
ec sesses military glory. For however he might conceal a 
<e value for excellence of every other kind, and even affect 
" a contempt of it, yet he could not but allow, that skill in 
" war, and the talents of a great General, were an ornament 
" to the Imperial dignity itself." 

* Domitian did not pretend to any skill in war ; and there- 
fore the word u alius' could never be intended to express a. 
competitor with him in it/ 



INDEX. 



d2 



INDEX. 



ABLANCOURT, his translations excellent, 225. 

■ his just observations on translation, ibid* 

Addison., translation from Claudian cited, 53. 

Adrian, his address to his soul, 234. 

Alembert, D', his observations on translation 4, quoted, 23; 

his translations from Tacitus, 24 et seq. 54. 

Alis et Alexis, romance, 239- 

Aldrich, Dr, his translation of a humorous song, 368. 

Ambiguous expressions how to be translated, 28. 

Ancient translation, few specimens of, existing at present, 2, 3. 

Anguillara, beautiful passages from his translation of Ovid's 

Metamorphoses, 237, 238, et seq. 
Anthologia, translation of an epigram from, by Cowper, 131* 

—of another by Webb, 161 — of another by Grotius, 163+ 
Dd3 



422 INDEX. 

Antiquated terms difficult to be translated, 323. 
Ardentia verba, 322. 

Aratus, phenomena of, translated by Cicero, 3. 
Arias Montanus, his version of the Scriptures, 114. 
Atterbury, his translation of Horace, Od. iv. 3. 146. 



B 



Barnaby, Ebrii Barnabas itinerarium, 368. 

Batteux, Abbe, remarks on the art of translation, 4. 7« 210. 

Beattie, Dr, his remark on a passage of Dryden, 99. — his re- 
mark on Castalio, 114. 

Beattie, J. H. his translation of Pope's Messiah quoted, 165. 

JBible, translations of, 111. et seq. See Castalio, Arias Mon-« 
tanus. 

Boileau, a fable of his translated by Pope, 166. 

Bourne, Vincent, his translation of an English anacreontic, 
105. — Of Colin and Lucy, 26 — Of William and Margaret, 
142. — Of Chloe hunting, 144. 

Browne, Isaac Hawkins, commended, 279. 

Brown, Thomas, his translation from Lucian, 220. 

Brumoy, remark on translation by, 274. 

Buchanan, his version of the Psalms, 269- — His Calendae 
Maice, whence imitated, 43. 

Burlesque translation, 36l. et seq. 369. 

Butler, See Hudibras. 



INDEX. 423 



Campbell, Dr, preliminary dissertation to a new translation 

of the Gospels, 4. cited 111. et seq. 
Carmina Quadragesimalia commended, 103. 
Caractacus of Mason translated into Greek, 156. 
Casaubon, his translation of Adrian's address to his soul, 

235. 
Castalio, his version of the Scriptures, 112. 
Cervantes. See Don Quixote. 

Chaulieu, his beautiful ode on Fontenai quoted, 329' 
Chevy-chace, whimsical translation of, 069. 
Cicero had cultivated the art of translation, 1. — Translated 

Plato's Timaeus, Xenophon's GEconomics, and the Pheno- 
mena of Aratus, 3. 
Cicero, epistles of, translated by Melmoth, 27. 45. 51. — His 

orations against Catiline quoted, 134. 
Claudian, translation from by Hughes, 163. 

translation from by Addison, 59- 

Colin and Lucy, translated by Bourne, 36. — By Le Mierre, 

see Appendix, NO. 1. 
Colloquial phrases, 259. et seq. 
Commire Pere, a Latin fable of, 344. 
Congreve, translation from Horace cited, 96. 
Correcting inaccuracies of the original, whether allowable in a 

translator, 54, 55. 

D d 4 



424 



INDEX- 



Cowper, a passase from his translation of Homer, 85. — His 

translation of an epigram from the Anthologia, 131. — His 

thoughts on translation, 212. 
Cotton, his translation of Montaigne cited, 260. — His Virgil 

travesty, 367. 
Cowley, translation from Horace cited, 95. 
Cumberland, Mr, his excellent translations of fragments of the 

ancient Greek dramatists, 167. et seq. 
Cunighius his translation of the Iliad cited, 85. 93. 



D 



Delille, or De Lille, his opinion as to the liberty allowed in 
poetical translation, 79* — His translation of the Georgics 
cited, 101. 125. — Of the Paradise Lost, 126. 

De Moutier, Lettres a Emilie quoted, 127. 

Denham, his opinion of the liberty allowed in translating poe- 
try, 65. — His compliment to Fanshaw, 75. 

Descriptions, containing a series of minute distinctions, ex- 
tremely difficult to be translated, 34<6. 

Diphilus, fragments of, translated by Mr Cumberland, 1 69* 

Don Quixote, difficulty of translating that romance, 281. — 
Comparison of the translations of, by Motteux and Smollet, 
282. et seq. 

Dry den improved poetical translation, 76. — His ideas on that 
subject, 230.247. — -His translation of Lucian's dialogues, 



INDEX. 425 

47, 210.— His translation of Virgil cited, 48. 97. 99- 123 

His translation of Du Fresnoy on painting, 101. 205. — His 
translation from Horace, 100. 233. — His translation of Ta- 
citus, 119- — Translation from Ovid's Metamorphoses, 135. 
— His remarks on poetical translation, 246. 

Desbillons, his admirable fables 343. — Specimens from him, 
Appendix, NO. 4. and 5. 

Duchat, his Notes on Rabelais, 3QQ. 

Duclos, a just observation of, 24. 

Du Fresnoy's art of painting admirably translated by Mr Ma« 
son, 2. — Translation of, by Dtyden, 101. 205. 

Dumesnil, Synonymes of, 22. 



E 



Ease, an essential requisite in a good translation, 16. 201. 

Ebrii Barnabse Itineranum, 368. 

Echard, his translation of Plautus cited, 136. 26l. et seq. 

— his translation of Terence cited, 26l. 263. 266, 267 

Ellipsis more freely admitted in Latin than in English, 198. 

Eobanus, Helius, his translation of Theocritus cited, 333. 

Epigrams, some incapable of translation, 276. 

Epigram from Martial well translated, 90. 

Epistolae obscurorum virorum, 117. 

Epithets used by Homer, sometimes mere expletives, 5$. 



426 INDEX. 



Facius, Bartolomaeus his faulty translation of Arrian, 68. 

Fanshaw praised as a translator by Denham, 75. — His trans- 
lation of Pastor Fido cited, 76. 

Fenelon's Telemachus, 204. 

Festus de verborum significatione, 22. 

Florid writing, 325. 353. 

Folard, his commentary on Polybius erroneous, from his ig- 
norance of the Greek language, 18. 

Fontaine, La, his character as a fabulist drawn by Marmon- 
tel, 338. 

■ his fables cited, 337. 339. — Accounted impossible to 

to be translated, 342. 

Fontaines, Abbe des, his translation of Virgil, 118. 

Fontenelle, his translation of Adrian's address to his soul, 
235. 

Francklin, his poetical essay on translation, 4. — His opinion 
as to a translator's liberty of improving on his original, 80. 
— Francklin's translation of Lucian cited, 231. et seq. 

French language admits of greater brevity of expression than 
the English, 194. 

Fresnoy. See Du Fresnoy. 



Gil Bias, Smollett's translation of, quoted, 257. 
Girard, Synonym es Francois, 22. 



INDEX. 427 

Glasse, his translation of Mason's Caractacus, 1 56. — Of Sam- 
son Agonistes, l6l. 

Gordon's Tacitus cited, 30. 196. — His injudicious imitation 
of the Latin construction, ibid, et 198. 

Greek Dramatists, fragments of, translated by Cumberland, 
167. etseq. 

Greek language allows of conciseness beyond most others, 
170. — Admits of inversions which are inconsistent with the 
genius of the English, 196. etseq. 

Guischardt has demonstrated the errors in Folard's commen- 
tary on Polybius, IQ. 



H 



Hill on synonymous words, 23. 

Hobbes, his translation of Homer cited, 87- 122. 272. 

Hogarth, his engravings from Hudibras, 385. 

Hogaeus, Paradisus Amissus Miltoni cited, 105. 

Holiday, his translation of Juvenal cited, 67. 

Holland's translation of Pliny cited, 351. 

Homer, his epithets frequently mere expletives, 50. 

Characteristics of his style, 11 7. 

Pope's translation of the Iliad cited, 38. 49. 80. et 

seq. 102. 128, 129, 130. — See Cunighius, Hobbes. — Mr 
Pope departs sometimes from the character of Homer's 
style, 117- — Translation of the Odyssey cited, 271. — Mac- 
pherson's Homer cited, 197. — The comparative excellencies 
of Homer and Virgil, 130. 



428 INDEX. 

Horace, translations from, cited. — Vide Johnson, Roscom* 
mon, Dryden, Congreve, Nivernois, Hughes. 

Hudibras, remarkable combination of wit and humour in that 
poem, 385. — Voltaire has attempted to translate some pas- 
sages of it, ibid, et seq — Excellent French translation of 
that poem by Colonel Townley cited, 3SQ. et seq. 

Huet de optimo genere interpretandi, 5, 14. 

Hughes's translation from Claudian cited, 163. — Ditto from 
Horace, 241. 

I 

Ideas superadded to the original by the translator, 35. — Ex^ 
amples of, from Bourne, 36. — From Pope's Homer, 38. 
— From his imitations of Horace, 47- — From Johnston's 
version of the Psalms, 39. — From Mason's Du Fresnoy on 
painting, 42. — From Malherbe, 44 —-^om Melmoth's Ci- 
cero's epistles, 45. — From Pryden's Lucian, 47. 

Ideas retrenched from the original by the translator, 47. — Ex-* 
amples of, from Dry den's Virgil, 48. — From Pope's Iliad, 
49. — From Melmoth's Cicero's epistles, 51, 52. 

The liberty of adding to or retrenching from the ideas of the 
original, is more allowable in poetical than in prose trans- 
lation, 63, — And in lyric poetry more than any other, 230 

Idioms, translation of, 251. — General "d'oms, 253. et seq.—* 
Idiomatic phrases, 259- — The translation is perfect, w T hea 
corresponding idioms are employed, ibid. — Examples from 



ittDEX. 429 

Cotton's translation of Montaigne, from Eehard, Sterne, 
ibid, et seq.— Licentiousness in the translation of idioms, 
262. — Examples, ibid. — Translator's resource when no cor- 
responding idioms are to be found, 275. 

Iliad. See Homer. 

Imitation, specimen of, as distinguished from translation, S33* 

Interpretation distinguished from translation. See Pearce. 

Johnson, Ben, translation from Horace, 64. et seq. 

Johnston, Arthur, his translation of the Psalms, 3$. 269. 

Jortin, Dr, translation from Simonides, 152. 

Juvenal, translation of, by Holiday, cited, 67.— Translation 
of, by Owen, cited, 126. 

Isidorus Hispalensis, Origines, 22. 



Latin language admits of a brevity of expression which can- 
not be succesfully imitated in English, 178. — It admits 
of inversions, which are inconsistent with the genius of 
the English, 196. — Admits of ellipsis more freely than 
the English, 198. 

L'Estrange, his translation from Seneca cited, 138. 

Lipsius, his opinion with regard to the liberty allowed in 
translation, 56. 

Lowth, Dr, his imitation of an ode of Horace, 232. 

Lucan, See May, Rowe. 

Lucian, Franklin's translation of, cited, 221. et seq Dry* 

den's, Brown's, &c. ibid, et seq. 



430 



INDEX* 



Lyric Poetry allows the greatest liberty of translation, 231.— 
Specimens of translation of, 232. et seq. 

M 

Macpherson's translation of the Iliad, 197, lgg. 

Malherbe cited, 44. 

Markham, Dr, his imitation of Simonides, 155. 

Marmontel, his opinion concerning naivete of expression 335* 
note. 

Martial, an epigram of his well translated, 90.— -Some of his 
epigrams incapable of translation, 262. 

Marot, some lines of his incapable of translation, 263. — Imi- 
tation of his manner, 264. 

Mason's translation of Du Fresnoy's art of painting, 42. 

His Caractacus, Greek translation of, 156. 

May, his translation of Lucan, 68. et seq. compared with 
Rowe's, ibid. 

Melmoth, one of the best of the English translators, 51. 214. 
et seq — His translation of Cicero's epistles cited, 27* 45. 
51. 179> et seq. 214. et seq. 275 — His translation of Pli- 
ny's epistles cited, 52. 179- 217. et seq. 275 — His unjust 
censure of a passage in Mr Pope's version of the Iliad, 
49- 

Messiah of Pope, passages from, translated, 165. 

Milton, his translation of Horace's ode to Pyrrha, 75. App. 
NO. 2. 

" ' ' ■ ■ >■ " ■ a passage from his tractate on education difficult to be 
translated with corresponding simplicity, 326.— His Pa* 



INDEX. 431 

radise Lost cited, 323. See Hogeeus, — His Comus cited, 

324. 
Moncrif, his ballad of Alexis et Alis, 239. 
Montaigne, Cotton's translation of, cited, 259.> 260. 
Montague, Mrs, her Essay on Shakespeare commended, 381. 
Motteux, his translation ef Don Quixote compared with that 

of Smollet, 283. et seq. — His translation of Rabelais, 397. 
Murphy, his translation of Tacitus cited, 27' 30. 182. et seq. 



N 



Naivete, in what it consists, 335. 338. — The fables of Phse- 
drus are remarkable for this character, 336. — As are those of 
La Fontaine, 337. et seq, Naivete of particular phrases 
and passages very difficult to be imitated in a translation, 
278, 279- — Sometimes impossible, ibid. 

Nivernois, Due de, his translation of Horace's dialogue with 
Lydia, 149- 

Nonius de proprietate Sermonum, 22. 



O 



Original Poets have been the best translators of poetry, 373. 
Orreiy, Lord, his translation of a passage of Cicero, 273. 
Ovid. See Sandys, Dryden, Anguillara, Demoutier. 
Ozell, his edition of Urquhart and Motteux's translation of 

Rabelais, SQS. 
Owen, some epigrams of his incapable of translation, 263. 



432 



INDEX. 
P 



Paraphrase, examples of, as distinguished from translation, 
232. et seq. 238. et seq. 

Parnel, his translation of Chaulieu's verses on Fontenay, 331. 

Pearce, Dr Zach. his distinction between interpretation anil 
translation, .5. 

Phaedrus, his fables cited, 336. 

Pitcairne, Dr, his Latin poetry characterised, 268. 

Pitt, eminent as a translator, 374*. 

Plautus. See Echard. 

Pliny the Elder, his description of the Nightingale, 350. 

*-. Analysis of a chapter of his Natural History, 354t* 

Pliny the Younger, his epistles. See Melmoth. 

Poem, whether it can be well translated into prose, ch. 8. 201. 

Poetical translation, liberty allowed to it, 63. et seq. 

» progress of poetical translation in England, 64>. et seq. 

Poetry, characteristics essential to it, 203. — Didactic poetry 
is the most capable of a prose translation, 205. — Lyric 
poetry incapable of a prose translation, 207. — Lyric poetry 
admits of the greatest liberty in translation, 231. 

Polybius erroneously understood by Folard, 18. 

Pope. See Homer. — His translation of Sappho's epistle to 
Phaon cited, 103. — His Dying Christian to his soul, 236. 

Popma Ausonius de differentiis verborum, 22. 

Prior, his " Chloe hunting," translated by Bourne, 144. — 
His translation of Adrians address to his soul, 235. 




INDEX. 433 



Q 



Quintilian recommends the practice of translation, 2. 
Quixote, Don, comparison of Motteux's translation of, with 
Smollet's, 282. et seq. 



R 



Rabelais admirably translated by Urquhart and Motteux, 397. 
Roscommon's Essay on translated verse, 77. — A precept of 

his with regard to poetical translation, controverted, 78.-— 

Translation from Horace cited, 95. 
Rousseau, " Devin de village" cited, 139- — His translations 

from Tacitus cited, 195. 
Rowe's Lucan cited, 72. 

S 

Sacred Scriptures, character of their style, 110. 

Sallust, translation of, 188. 

Sandys, his character as a translator of poetry, 73. — His trans- 
lation of Ovid cited, ibid. 

Scaliger, Joseph, his absurd eulogium of an ode of Ha* 
race, 146. 

Scarron's burlesque translation of Virgil cited, 364, 

Seneca. See L'Estrange. 

Shakespeare, translation from, by Voltaire, 375. et seq.— -His 
phraseology difficult to be imitated in a translation, 323. 
et seq. 

e e 



434 



INDEX, 



Simonides, fragment of, translated by Jortin, 152. — Imitated 
b}*- Markham, 155. 

Simplicity of thought and expresioli difficult to be imitated in 
a translation, 326. 

Smart's prose translation of Horace, 207. 

Smollet's translation of Gil Bias cited, 242. — His translation 
of Don Quixote compared with Motteux's, 266. 

Sotheby's translation of the Georgics cited, 44. 100. 

Spelman's Xenophon cited, 255. 

Sterne's Slawkenbergius's tale cited, 262. 

Steuart's Sallust commended, 188. — cited, 189* et seq. 

Strada's Contest of the Musician and Nightingale, extreme 
difficulty of translating it, 346. 

Style and manner of the original to be imitated in the trans- 
lation, 109« et seq. — A just taste requisite for the discern- 
ment of those characters, 132. — Limitations of the rule 
regarding the imitation of style, 177* et seq. 



Tacitus. See D'Ablancourt, D'Alembert, Gordon, Murphy, 
Dryden, Rousseau. — Difficulty of translating that author, 226. 

Talbot, Miss, her sentiments of the importance of transla- 
tion, 9- 

Tasso, imitation of a passage from Virgil, 328. 

Telemachus, a poem in prose, 204. 

Terence. See Echard. 

Theocritus, translation of a passage from, by Hclius Eoba- 
mis, 333. 



INDEX. 435 

Thiebanlt, his opinion of La Fontaine, 342. 

TickelFs ballad of Lucy and Colin, translated by Bourne, 36. 

Translated by Le Mierre, Appendix, NO. 1. 

Timocles, fragment of, translated by Cumberland, 168. 

Townley, Colonel, his translation of Hudibras, 38$. 

Translation, art of, very little cultivated, 1. — Recommended. 
by Quinctilian, Pliny and Cicero, 2. — Ancient translations, 
few specimens of, existing, 3. et seq. — Reasons why the art 
is at a low ebb among the moderns, 7« — Description or de- 
finition of a good translation, 13. 15. — Laws of translation, 
16. — First general law, " That the translation should give 
te a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work," 
17- et seq. — Translation, when it ought to be close, and 
when strict, depends on the nature of the work, 55. — Trans- 
lation, poetical, progress of it in England, 63. et seq. — Se- 
cond general law, " The style and manner of writing in a 
" translation should be of the same character with that of 
" the original," 109- et seq. — Specimens of good poetical 
translations, 141. et seq. — Third general rule, <e A trans- 
<c lation should have all the ease of original, -composition," 
5209* et seq. — A translator ought always to figure to, him- 
self in what manner the original author would have ex- 
pressed himself, if he had written in the language of the 
translation, 301. — Licentious translation, 220. — The ge- 
nius of the translator should be akin to that of the original 
author, 371. — The best translators have shone in original 
composition of the same species, 373, 



436 



INDEX. 



Travesty or burlesque translation, 36 1. et seq. ^-Scarron's 
and Cotton's Virgil Travesty, 364. et seq. 

U 

Urquhart, Sir Thomas, his excellent translation of Rabe- 
lais, 307- 

V 

Varro de lingua Latina, 22. 

Virgil. See Dryden, Delille, Fontaines, Sotheby. — Example 
of false taste in a passage of Virgil, 363. 

Voltaire, his remark on the Abbe des Fontaine's translation 
of Virgil, 118. — His translations from Shakespeare very 
faulty, 375. — His perversion of the character of Hamlet, 
380. — Character of the wit of Voltaire, 383. — He had no 
talent for humorous composition, 384. — Character of his 
novels, ibid. 

W 

Warton, eminent as a poetical translator, 374. 
Wollaston's Religion of Nature, passage from, difficult to be 
translated, 327- 



Xenophon's (Economics translated by Cicero, 3,— Speknan's 
Xenophon cited, 255, 



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